Artist
Fazil Say
Fazıl Say (Ankara, 14 January 1970) is a Turkish pianist and composer.
Say studied piano and composition at the State Conservatory of Ankara. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a German scholarship, which enabled him to study for five years at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule Düsseldorf with American-German pianist David Levine (1949-1993). From 1992 to 1995, Say continued his studies at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Say became known to a wider audience after winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in 1995. He masters a repertoire of both Eastern and Western music, from Turkish folk and classical music to Bartók, Stravinsky, Ravel and Gershwin. With French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, he has made several recordings, including one of his own composition Gezi Park 3.
In 2012, Say declared via Twitter: "I am an atheist and proud to say that loudly and clearly". Furthermore, he made jokes about Islamic rituals and religious beliefs and quoted a 13th-century Persian poem in which hypocritical believers are ridiculed. After that, he was charged by a prosecutor from Istanbul for "insulting religious values". In April of that year, Say announced his intention to emigrate to Japan due to cultural intolerance in his home country.
Say studied piano and composition at the State Conservatory of Ankara. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a German scholarship, which enabled him to study for five years at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule Düsseldorf with American-German pianist David Levine (1949-1993). From 1992 to 1995, Say continued his studies at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Say became known to a wider audience after winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in 1995. He masters a repertoire of both Eastern and Western music, from Turkish folk and classical music to Bartók, Stravinsky, Ravel and Gershwin. With French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, he has made several recordings, including one of his own composition Gezi Park 3.
In 2012, Say declared via Twitter: "I am an atheist and proud to say that loudly and clearly". Furthermore, he made jokes about Islamic rituals and religious beliefs and quoted a 13th-century Persian poem in which hypocritical believers are ridiculed. After that, he was charged by a prosecutor from Istanbul for "insulting religious values". In April of that year, Say announced his intention to emigrate to Japan due to cultural intolerance in his home country.
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