One of the best pianists in the world: Who is Fazil Say?

Fazil Say was born on January 14, 1970, in Ankara. His father is Ahmet Say, a writer and musicologist, and his mother is Gürgün Say, a pharmacist. Say, who was born with a cleft lip and palate, had an operation in his infancy and his cleft lip was sutured. He started playing the melodica upon the recommendation of his doctor to play a wind instrument.

Say, who started piano at the age of four, studied at Ankara State Conservatory in Special Status for Gifted Children and completed the piano and composition departments of the conservatory in 1987. He continued his studies at the Düsseldorf School of Music with a German scholarship. While receiving his diploma as a concerto soloist in 1991, he was appointed as a piano and chamber music teacher at the Berlin Academy of Design Arts and Music in 1992.

Fazıl Say (born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer.

Say, who won first place in the Young Concert Soloists Europe competition in 1994, started his concert career by being the winner of the intercontinental competition held in New York in 1995. On the other hand, he began to compose oratorios, piano concertos, orchestral in various forms, chamber music and piano works, and songs for voice and piano. Among these works are the oratorios titled Nazım and Metin Altıok Lament, 4 piano concertos, the orchestral work written in memory of Albert Einstein on the order of the University of Zurich, and the "Patara", which was composed on the order of the celebration committee in Vienna on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday. There was ballet music.

Throughout his career, Fazil Say has given concerts with orchestras such as New York Philharmonic, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, France National Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony. At the closing concert of the 2007 Florence Festival, he presented an open-air concert with the Florence Orchestra directed by Zubin Mehta, which was watched by twenty thousand people. The CD with the same title, which also includes the piano piece composed by Say, who was the chairman of the piano jury at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2007, inspired by the folk song "Kara Toprak" by Turkish saz poet Aşık Veysel, reached the 6th place on the Billboard charts in the United States. The music of the 2008 production Sivas '93 theater play also belongs to the artist.

Say reflected his interest in poetry and literature in his art. The albums İlk Şarkılar (2013) and New Songs were a product of this interest. Serenad Bağcan took part in the albums as a soloist and the duo gave concerts both in Turkey and in many countries. In 2015, the artist established the Nazım Hikmet Choir and assumed the general music directorship. The choir gave its first concert on August 29, 2015, and performed the composer's Nazım Hikmet Oratorio in this concert held at the Bilkent Odeon Concert Hall in Ankara.

In 2008, he was appointed by the European Union with the title of "Cultural Ambassador".

https://fazilsay.com/