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The Hatay Academy Symphony Orchestra performed in Ankara, Türkiye's capital, as part of "Beirut's Echo: A Fairuz Symphony," a project that reinterprets the works of Lebanese artist Fairuz through symphonic arrangements.
Founded under conductor Ali Ugur, the orchestra is the first symphony orchestra in Hatay, a province in southern Türkiye heavily damaged in the February 2023 earthquakes. The concert took place at the Oran Open-Air Stage.
The program featured multiple works by Fairuz, one of the Eastern Mediterranean's most influential voices, including "Habbaitak Be El Saif," "Le Beirut" and "Bent El Shalabeya." The concert combined classical orchestral instruments with traditional instruments, bringing local musical textures together with Western symphonic arrangement on the same stage.
Addressing the audience, Ugur introduced the works of Fairuz and said that although "Habbaitak Be El Saif" resembles a serenade written for a lover, the orchestra has found a deeper meaning in the piece. He said the song is performed at every concert in dedication to Antakya and Hatay.
Ugur noted that after the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras, a city in southeastern Türkiye, on Feb. 6, 2023, the city needed songs that carried meaning. He said, "We took on this responsibility, and we sing our songs for our city."
Referring to the song's lyrics, which include the lines "I loved you in summers, I loved you in winters, in both summers and winters I waited for you," Ugur explained the symbolism behind them. He said summer represents good days and winter represents hard days, and that the orchestra loved its city in both.
He added that they are witnessing the city move closer to its former days and rebuild, and that the orchestra aims to support that process through music, contribute through art, voice the city's presence, wait for it, live in it and share hope during a difficult period.
The orchestra's concert program will continue:
Sept. 1: Adana Cukurova University Open-Air Theatre, Adana
Sept. 2: Hatay Sumerler Open-Air Theatre
Sept. 4: Gaziantep University Mavera Congress and Art Center Main Hall, in Gaziantep
Sept: 5: Diyarbakir Sezai Karakoc Culture and Congress Center, Diyarbakir
The orchestra lost multiple members, relatives, instruments and its rehearsal space in the Feb. 6 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras, but continued its activities in the aftermath.
Through music's healing and unifying power, the orchestra aims to bring Hatay's cultural voice back to prominence and contribute to the region's cultural rebuilding.
Musicians in the project come from Hatay and surrounding provinces, as well as the capital Ankara, the southern city of Adana, Istanbul on the Bosphorus, the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, and Mersin, Mugla, Antalya, Sirnak, and Tarsus, spanning Türkiye's southern and southeastern regions.
The project was previously carried out at CSO Ada in Ankara and drew significant interest as the first initiative of its kind in Türkiye.
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