Anatolian Philharmonic vows to reach all people

İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency

The Culture Ministry’s Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra recently performed six different concerts in İzmir and its district of Urla on the same day. AA photos

A unique philharmonic orchestra formed by the Culture Ministry is hoping to stage an “artistic revolution” in Turkey by bringing its music to all four corners of the country with 250 concerts a year.
“We believe that the Anatolian Philharmonic will be the beginning of an artistic revolution in Anatolia,” Kenan Gökkaya, the coordinator of the İzmir-based Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra, recently said. “We observe everyday how our people are interested in fine arts and how our orchestra was a true idea.”

Certain branches of art have only been performed in a select number of provinces, Gökkaya said in hailing the art revolution, adding that the orchestra would not wait for people to come to them but would instead go to the people.

“The interest that we received within a short time proves that we are on the right track,” Gökkaya said. “Village heads and school principals from all around the country have called to invite us for concert. We see in villages that all the people are there. They have not seen art and artists before. Our goal is to give more than 250 concerts in a year and reach as many audiences as we can,” he said, adding that they tried to accept invitations from all parts of the country.

Gökkaya said the orchestra recently performed six different concerts in İzmir and its district of Urla on the same day. After a mini-concert in İzmir, the orchestra participated in various events in Urla. “We gave an educational concert in Kuşçular village and also a concert at a 2,500-year-old olive [processing factory]. In this way, we performed six events on the same day.”

Gökkaya said the orchestra, which was formed with support from Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay, aimed at reaching the most remote parts of Turkey on two art buses that had been supplied by the Turkish Travel Agencies Union (TÜRSAB) and Opel Turkey. “Our buses pave the way for us all around the country.”

Difficult but privileged task
The coordinator said that becoming a part of the orchestra, which was founded in April and had begun to form its own staff, was a difficult but privileged task for artists.

The orchestra has a structure unlike ordinary artistic organizations, Gökkaya said. “We will not play in halls, but we will play everywhere else; in warm and cold weather, on a tractor and other places. We will organize more than 250 events in a year. We will go to the most distant places. If artists accept these conditions, they can apply to us. They will be cold, they will sometimes feel suffocated. But they will not find the joy of these concerts in any other place.” The philharmonic also has a project to interpret works played on the reed, an instrument that is frequently played in Anatolia.

“We want the reed, which is a very important part of Anatolian culture, to be played in villages again,” Gökkaya said.

He said the orchestra had attempted to cast light on the lives of shepherds in rural areas.