Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

The last week of August is prime real estate for looking ahead: Soon galleries and concert halls will put out their best, and the city will properly reopen. Wait, did we say reopen? Not so fast. First, one last stop at Bozcaada Jazz Festival, dinner named for the island's most beloved hostess, and a Kadikoy opera house's box office to remind you that autumn is, in fact, coming. Here's to delayed returns.

If you want to receive this newsletter or our other weekly City Pulse newsletters — for Doha, Dubai and Riyadh — sign up here.

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram: @citypulsealm

1. Leading the week: Bozcaada jazz festival

Bozcaada Jazz Festival enters its 10th year. (Courtesy of Bozcaada Jazz Festival)

Ten years ago, Bozcaada Jazz Festival began as a small gathering inspired by the island's own transience; a decade on, the festival has made that instinct its explicit theme. “Impermanence” frames the 10th edition, running Sept. 4-6 across three stages, a scattering of "Kesif," or “Discovery,” venues, and whatever surprise corners of the island organizers dream up between now and September.

The premise borrows its logic straight from jazz: no performance repeats, no note lands the same way twice, and that unrepeatability is the point rather than a flaw to route around. The main stage returns to Ayazma Monastery, Habbele Beach carries the program from daylight into electronic sunset sets, and the free, walk-up Salhane Sahnesi acts as a radar for newer acts. The lineup, drawn from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Turkey, ranges from straight jazz through electronic, improvisational and, organizers promise, psychedelic registers.

Bands play across the island. (Courtesy of Bozcaada Jazz Festival)

What distinguishes Bozcaada from an ordinary music weekend is its perfect penetration into the island known for its aromatic grapes: panels and workshops on island life, viticulture, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and cultural policy sit alongside ceramics and music workshops, bird-watching outings and informal jazz........

© Al Monitor