DENİZ ÇİYAN
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Renowned violin virtuoso
Shlomo Mintz and famous conductor Cem Mansur were on stage at Hagia
Eirene with the youth orchestra of Turkey
Shlomo Mintz and Cem Mansur play with the Turkish
National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra at a concert in Hagia Eirene.
The Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (TUGFO) gave a
heart-warming and well-appreciated concert together with world-renowned
violin virtuoso Shlomo Mintz at the Hagia Eirene Museum on Sept. 2.
The
concert, which was conducted by TUGFO’s maestro Cem Mansur, provided a
splendid evening for all concerned, in so much that it brought together a
celebrated violin soloist, a famous conductor and a youth orchestra.
What was also touching was to see the Music for Peace Foundation’s
orchestra, composed of children aged between 8 and 18 who are amateur
musicians, perform together with TUGFO.
The concert started with
Ludwig van Beethoven’s overture “Leonore no:3” and continued with the
same composer’s violin concerto, in which Mintz joined the orchestra.
The positive interaction between Mintz, Mansur and TUGFO was overtly
visible, and one could feel that while the two experienced musicians
were performing outstandingly, the young members of the orchestra were
trying to do their best. Apart from the successful performance by the
soloist, the sound of Mintz’s violin was so clear and bright that the
music reached directly to the hearts of the audience in the historic
church-turned-museum.
Mintz told the
Hürriyet Daily News
after the concert that he joined TUGFO following a direct proposal from
Mansur and that he had not known what to expect from the orchestra but
that he had been pleased by their performance.
“I think they
tried really hard tonight and that it is a good orchestra. They will
need to build their confidence up, and I am sure it will come during the
tour,” Mintz said, adding that they had just come to know each other at
the rehearsals. “It will only get better, hopefully.”
Italy tourTUGFO,
which is supported by the Sabancı Foundation and works under the
umbrella of the Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG), will tour Italy
between Sept. 7 and 17 for seven concerts in different festivals and
concert halls.
Mansur told the Daily News that it was very
important for the young musicians to play with such a versed virtuoso
and to measure themselves against the best musicians. “We are very happy
that Mintz has joined our concert in Istanbul and will be participating
in the following five concerts in Italy. This is a great experience for
the members of the orchestra,” Mansur said. “I conduct Turkey’s best
orchestra, but it unfortunately lasts only five weeks.”
When
asked about his motivation for joining a youth orchestra like TUGFO,
Mintz said it came to him naturally as he had worked for many years in
organizing master classes and international competitions. “Somehow I
feel obliged unconsciously to repay the younger people, if only for what
I was offered in a very unique way when I was growing up,” Mintz said.
Mintz
said being a musician was a beautiful profession that should be kept
precious. “I would advise them to not to give up hope and see if life
takes them in such a way where they can enjoy and share beautiful music
with each other,” said Mintz.
Commenting on what they had aimed
at when establishing the orchestra, Mansur said they wanted to show what
musical life in Turkey could be by reaching out to real music lovers in
the countries in which they played.
“Attending the already
established concert series and festivals gives us the ability to reach
out to the main intellectual public opinion leaders and music lovers.
This is very important as having audiences with a season’s ticket to
watch TUGFO matters a lot,” Mansur said.
‘William Tell’The
orchestra played the “William Tell” overture by Giacchino Rossini,
Guiseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” and also “Dances of Galanta” from Zoltan
Kodaly, consecutively in the second part of the concert. TUGFO and
Mansur were successful in unraveling the different feelings of each of
the pieces and were highly applauded at the end of the concert.
The
biggest applause, though, came after TUGFO performed the third movement
of the “William Tell” overture together with the Music for Peace
Foundation’s orchestra as an encore. Watching very young musicians
perform a part of a well-recognized classical music piece with a
successful youth orchestra in such an important event moved the audience
– as evidenced by the spectators’ act of jumping to their feet to
heartily applaud the performers.
Mansur said they had invited the
orchestra of the Music for Peace Foundation, which had recently
performed at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, and were very happy to
see their evolution.
September/04/2013
