Classical
music pianist, composer. He was born on January 14th,
The
young pianist, who graduated from the conservatory in 1988, was awarded a scholarship
that enabled him to go to Germany and to study at the Robert Schumann Institute
in Düsseldorf for five years with the American pianist David Levine, who was
regarded as the typical example of a creative and prominent performer of
Schubert. Fazıl Say, who got his “Concert Pianist” diploma in 1991, settled in
Berlin and began his professional career in music. His first international achievement
was the award he won in Europe Piano Competition (1991) by the European Union.
The same year he performed a concerto which he composed upon the order of
Berlin Symphony Orchestra with violin virtuoso Götz Bernau, where he was the
soloist artist in the world premiere performance. Meanwhile, he worked at
Berlin Academy of Music as lecturer in 1995.
Later,
he returned to Turkey and it was a milestone for his career when he won the
first-runner award in Concert Artist Europe Competition. He made a name for
himself when he received the New York Young Concert Artists International Competitions
and he started to be considered as one of the famous pianists of the world. Then
he won the first-runner award in Cross Continental Competition held in New
York. That he was honored with many awards by many foundations like Radio
France Beracasa, Paul A. Fish Foundation, Boston Metamorphosis Orchestra, M.
Clairmont Foundation, which led him to continue his career in the world.
Fazıl
Say is a familiar face to many appeared worldwide known orchestras such as New
York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, the Baltimore Philharmonic, St.
Petersburg Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France. He has
appeared at the Lucerne Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Rheingaur Music
Festival, Verbier Festival, Montpellier
Festival and Beethoven Festival Bonn for many times and given concerts at many concert
halls like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna
Musikverein, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New
York.
Fazıl
Say, who has advanced in his career from 1995 to today, continues his musical
activities in European countries especially in France and in five continents
and gave concerts together with noted conductors and orchestras and gave
recital at prestigious music halls. The most important thing about his
composition is that he turned his piano compositions into orchestra
compositions later. He created compositions for many famous poets of the Turkey
and of the world, he also wrote composition for the poems of Nazım Hikmet and
increased the number of concertos.
In
2003-2004 he appeared in Salzburg Festival, Lincoln Center Festival in New
York, Harrod’s Piano Series in London and World Piano Series in Tokyo for the
first time. One of his chamber music partners are Yuri Bashmet and Shlomo
Mintz. In 2004 he went on his European tour and the USA tour with Maxim
Vengerov and performed at Carnegie Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, Barnican Center in London, and at Salzburg Festival. In 2006 he
went on Europe and Asian tour with Akiko Swanai... Say’s passion for jazz and
improvisation led him to found a ‘Worldjazz’ quartet with the Turkish ney
virtuoso Kudsi Ergüner. The quartet performed to a triumphal reception in St.
Denis, Paris, and Montpellier, at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Istanbul Jazz
Festival and the Juan-les-Pins Festival.
Fazıl Say,
the owner of nearly twenty universal awards and who was the best piano virtuous
of Turkey up to now, is especially noted for his works on Bach and Gershwin. He
drew attention with his classic compositions in which he established his own
style and with compositions in which he paid attention to local music. He is
famous in the world of classic music repertoire not only for his extraordinary
performances, in which he played compositions of noted musicians like Mozart,
Beethoven, Haydn, Bach, Stravinsky and for also his oratorios and concertos, in
which he was inspired by music and culture of his homeland. Besides his almost
a hundred compositions and released albums, he also has books.
Say, who has
remained on the agenda not only for his talent in piano and composition but for
also his ideas, has various fields of interest. Say who says “I need to
introduce my people with classic music” reflects his ideas about music,
politics, future, being an artist and about life in his book “Yalnızlık Kederi.” He was married to
Cello Virtuoso Gülyar Balcı and had a daughter from that marriage but they got
divorced later.
MUSIC
NOTEBOOK: Schwarze Hymnen for violin and
piano (1987), Nasreddin Hoca’nın Dansları
(for piano, 1990), Fantazi Parçaları
(for piano, 1993), Paganini Çeşitlemeleri
(for piano, 1995), Sonat (for piano
and violin, 1997), İpekyolu (piano
concerto, 1998).
BOOKS:
Nasreddin Hoca'nın Dansları Piyano İçin -
Four Dances Of Nasreddin Hodja For Piano (1990), Fantazi Parçaları Piyano İçin Fantasy Pieces For Piano (1993), Paganini Çeşitlemeleri Piyano İçin Paganini
Variations For Piano (1995), Sonat
Keman ve Piyano İçin - Sonata for Violin and Piano (1997), Uçak Notları
(1999), Metin Altıok Ağıtı (2008), Yalnızlık Kederi (2009), Fantazi
Parçaları - Piyano İçin (nota, 2009)