Music festival to honor pianist duo

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The Pekinel sisters think that classical music should enter every part of daily life and put their effort into this. Hürriyet photo

More than just pianists, sisters Güher and Süher Pekinel are set to receive a major award at the 41st Istanbul Music Festival in June for their work at helping classical music grow in Turkey.

“The festival is a light for Turkey. For this reason, receiving an award at the festival is really important for us,” Güher Pekinel said, adding that the Istanbul Music Festival was a very important and well-established event for Turkey and the country’s music development.

The duo will be receiving honorary award for their support of classical music in Turkey, particularly for young people.

The sisters have dedicated their lives to classical music and think the genre should enter every part of daily life.

“We should not classify music. Music is something that human beings have in them. Since the beginning as a baby, human beings can identify rhythm. Music is a way of defining feelings,” Güher Pekinel said.

Noting that classic music was something that has greatly developed in the world, she said this was a kind of language.

“We have to learn that language and address to it,” she added.

“The festivals that are taking place in Istanbul are very effective at spreading the awareness of classical music throughout the world. Classical music is a long road and requires patience. In order to be successful, one has to work a lot with patience,” said Güher Pekinel.

Spreading classical music in Turkey

Noting that many works were continuing to spread classical music to everyone in Turkey, Güher Pekinel said: “This year, many festivals are being organized in order to make classical music recognized more. The aim is to attract youth to classic music concerts. The important thing is not to evaluate this music as elite music.”

She also added the important thing was to carry classical music to the streets and make it recognized in every community.

There are many good works going on in Turkey to do this, according to the sisters. “Many children are growing up learning to play an instrument, and they become more balanced in their feelings because a child that learns to play an instrument learns how to express himself or herself,” Güher Pekinel said.

If a child develops his or her instrument-playing technique and shares her feelings by playing the instrument, she can contribute more to society, she said.

Noting that young talents should work a lot and be patient in order to be successful, Pekinel said: “Of course, it is very hard to be successful all the time. We have won many competitions and there were lots of teachers and masters who have supported us. But all of this is a whole. All of this should come as a whole.”

The most important thing is working and the desire for success, she said. “The question with what I can be deeper and knowledgeable is very important. We need to ask those questions to ourselves,” Güher Pekinel added.

“Artists should be deep and carry their deepness to the surface and share this with the audiences and listeners. This is not a task, this is a responsibility,” she said.

The duo also gives high importance to the social responsibility projects, participating in social responsibility projects that help to spread classical music in Turkey.

“We always want to help the projects. Currently, we are dealing with our own projects and we are working with young people we want to help young people, who will be future talents and this is our task,” Güher Pekinel said.

Süher Pekinel said each school in Istanbul’s Fatih district now had a music room. “If we can build a music room for each school, this means Turkey’s future in terms of music is very bright,” she said, adding that such a program needed to be spread to other parts of Anatolia.

According to the duo, the future of Turkey in terms of music is very bright. “We need to spread the knowledge of classic music to Anatolia,” Güher Pekinel said.