Fazıl Say was born in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fazıl Say, whose name he shares, was a member of the Spartakusbund.[1] Say was a child prodigy, who was able to do basic arithmetic with 4-digit numbers at the age of two. His father, having found out that he was playing the melody of "Daha Dün Annemizin" (Turkish version of Ah! vous dirai-je, maman) on a makeshift flute with no prior training, enlisted the help of Ali Kemal Kaya, an oboist and family friend. At the age of three, Say started his piano lessons under the tutelage of pianist Mithat Fenmen.[2]
Say wrote his first piece – a piano sonata – in 1984, at the age of fourteen, when he was a student at the Conservatory of his home town Ankara. It was followed, in this early phase of his development, by several chamber works without an opus number, including Schwarze Hymnen for violin and piano and a guitar concerto. He subsequently designated as his opus 1 one of the works that he had played in the concert that won him the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York: the Four Dances of Nasreddin Hodja (1990). This work already displays in essence the significant features of his personal style: a rhapsodic, fantasia-like basic structure; a variable rhythm, often dance-like, though formed through syncopation; a continuous, vital driving pulse; and a wealth of melodic ideas that may often be traced back to themes from the folk music of Turkey and its neighbours. In these respects, Fazıl Say stands to some extent in the tradition of composers like Béla Bartók, George Enescu, and György Ligeti, who also drew from the rich musical folklore of their countries. He attracted international attention with the piano piece Black Earth, Op. 8 (1997), in which he employs techniques made popular by John Cage's works for prepared piano.[3]
After this, Say increasingly turned to the large orchestral forms. Taking his inspiration from the poetry (and the biographies) of the writers Nâzım Hikmet and Metin Altıok, he composed works for soloists, chorus and orchestra which, especially in the case of the oratorio Nâzim, Op. 9 (2001), clearly take up the tradition of composers such as Carl Orff. In addition to the modern European instrumentarium, Say also makes frequent and deliberate use in these compositions of instruments from his native Turkey, including kudüm and darbuka drums and the ney reed flute. This gives the music a colouring that sets it apart from many comparable creations in this genre. In 2007 he aroused international interest with his Violin Concerto 1001 Nights in the Harem, Op. 25, which is based on the celebrated tales of the same name, but deals specifically with the fate of seven women from a harem. Since its world premiere by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the piece has already received further performances in many international concert halls.[3]
Fazıl Say scored further great success with his first symphony, the Istanbul Symphony Op. 28 (2009), premiered in 2010 at the conclusion of his five-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Jointly commissioned by the WDR and the Konzerthaus Dortmund in the framework of Ruhr in 2010, the work constitutes a vibrant and poetic tribute to the metropolis on the Bosporus and its millions of inhabitants. The same year saw the composition, among other pieces, of his Divorce String Quartet, Op. 29, (based on atonal principles), and commissioned works like the Piano Concerto Nirvana Burning, Op. 30, for the Salzburg Festival and a Trumpet Concerto for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, premiered by Gábor Boldoczki.[3]
For Sabine Meyer Say has also written a Clarinet Concerto, Op. 36 (2011), that refers to the life and work of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam in response to a commission from the 2011 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and a Sonata for clarinet and piano (op. 42) for the Kissinger Sommer festival in 2012. Fazıl Say's works are issued worldwide by the renowned music publishers Schott Music of Mainz.[3]
In his works Gezi Park 1,2 and 3 (op. 48, op. 52, op. 54) from 2013/14 he musically processed the suppression of the protests at the Istanbul Gezi Park.[4][5][6]
In October 2023, Fazıl Say said his upcoming performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland were cancelled after he called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "stand trial for war crimes, genocide and massacres."[9]
Blasphemy charge
In April 2012, Say came under investigation by the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office over statements made on Twitter, after declaring himself an atheist and retweeting a famous poem of 11th century muslim polymath Omar Khayyam which criticises twisted conception of paradise of some fundamentalistschools and movements.[10][11] Say then announced that he was considering leaving Turkey to live in Japan because of the rise of conservative Islam and growing intolerance in his home country.[12][13]
On 1 June 2012, an Istanbul court indicted Say with the crime of "publicly insulting religious values that are adopted by a part of the nation", a crime that carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison.[11][14] According to Anatolia news agency, Say told the Istanbul court he did not seek to insult anybody, but was merely expressing his uneasiness. The court adjourned the case to 18 February after rejecting his lawyers’ request for an immediate acquittal. “When I read them (Say tweets), I was heart-broken, I felt disgraced.” Turan Gümüş, one of the three plaintiffs, told the court. On 15 April 2013, Say was sentenced to 10 months in jail, reduced from 12 months for good behavior in court. The sentence was suspended, meaning he was allowed to move freely provided he did not repeat the offense in the next five years.[15]
On appeal, Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals reversed the conviction on 26 October 2015, ruling that Say's Twitter posts fell within the bounds of freedom of thought and freedom of expression.[16]
Although he declared himself an atheist, in 2018, after photos of him praying at his mother's funeral surfaced, he denied those who called him an atheist, saying, "Later we heard that those who accused me of disbelief turned out to be women traders and were imprisoned."[17]
Honors and awards
Winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (1994)
2019 CD / Warner Bros. (Fazil Say plays Say: Troy Sonata, Yürüyen Köşk, two pieces from Art of Piano)
2019 CD / Winter & Winter (Ferhan & Ferzan Önder play Fazil Say: Winter Morning in Istanbul, Gezi Park – Concerto for two pianos & orchestra, Sonata for two pianos)
2019 CD / Sony (1001 Nights in the Harem: Violin Concerto, Grand Bazaar, China Rhapsody)
