Fazıl Say to premiere new work commemorating late author Sait Faik Abasıyanık in Burgazada

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (Ä°KSV) under the sponsorship of Borusan Holding, is in its final week.

The festival has a special project with Fazıl Say and the Mesopotamia Symphony, which took place in the 40th year of the festival. With the commissioning of the festival, Say composed a special work that will commemorate Sait Faik Abasıyanık, who is a milestone in Turkish literature, for the 60th anniversary of his death.

The piece, written and directed by Özen Yula, functions as a meeting point for literature and music. Say will perform on piano and will be accompanied by Zeynep Halvaşi with her impressive voice, Serenad Bağcan, who is the classic Western music representative of music doyen Bağcan Family, Borusan Quartet, Hakan Güngör (kanun), Derya Türkkan on (kemenche) and Aykut Köselerli (percussion).

Actresses Demet Evgar, Songül Öden and Esra Bezen Bilgin will perform as narrators. The concert will take place June 25 on Burgazada, where Abasıyanık spent most of his life. The composition will also be performed on June 26 at Zorlu PSM.

Soloist change in closing concert

Pianist Yuja Wang, who was to appear as the soloist in Istanbul Music Festival’s closing concert on June 27, had to cancel due to an unfortunate accident, which will likely keep her away from the stage for nearly three months. The festival will instead close with Alexander Romanovsky, one of the most riveting pianists of our time.

The closing concert will feature pianist Alexander Romanovsky, renowned as an individual and subtle performer with an utterly engaging voice, with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra under the...