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Ankara Music and Fine Arts University (MGU) in Ankara, the capital of Türkiye in central Anatolia, is preparing to present a new 70-member orchestra that brings Turkish classical and folk instruments together with Western instruments.
The orchestra mainly consists of university academics and students. Alongside the instruments of Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music, it includes string instruments, double bass, accordion and other Western instruments. Members include MGU faculty, lecturers, research assistants and students, as well as academics and students from other universities in Ankara.
MGU Rector Prof. Gulcin Yahya Kacar, also the orchestra's general art director, told Anadolu Agency that Western instruments are used mainly for bass and accompaniment, while Turkish instruments carry the melody.
"We never compromise on makam performance, our frets or our makam sensibilities. The melody is in the foreground," Kacar said.
University academics prepared the arrangements. Kacar said the approach is not Western-style polyphony. Instead, the arrangements use written bass parts and counterpoint, a system in which one melody is set against another.
The repertoire includes folk songs, "nefes" pieces, Balkan and Crimean melodies and instrumental works. Kacar said the repertoire also features the davul and zurna, a traditional drum-and-shawm pairing.
Conductor Prof. Dr. Selcuk Ozturk named "Ben Melamet Hirkasini Kendim Giydim Eginme", "Estergon Kalasi" and "Ey Guzel Kirim" among the works. The concert will also include two pieces by Kacar: "Perde Kaldirma," composed in Hicaz makam, and a dance tune in Huseyni makam.
Kacar said that in "Perde Kaldirma" the whole orchestra holds drone tones while the notes of the makam are sounded one by one. She described this as a traditional performance practice staged with a new approach.
The first concert will take place on Oct. 8 at the university's Yunus Emre Sevgi Meydani. The orchestra will perform eight works in a program of about 30 minutes.
Students of Palet Turk Muzigi Ilkokulu, a primary school, will perform before the orchestra. Kacar said this is intended to create a dialogue between generations.
"Our university did not have an orchestra. I became rector two months ago and my first task was to establish an orchestra and bring the entire academic staff together," Kacar said.
Ozturk, a clarinetist and faculty member at the MGU Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, said other music ensembles had worked at the university before, but this is the first orchestra formed in this scope.
"We think we completed the process successfully. We are ready for the concert," Ozturk said.
Kacar said the university aims to perform in Europe and other parts of the world, including the Turkic world, the Balkans and the Middle East, and to take part in festivals.
"From now on, we want to open up to Europe and the world," she said.
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