Yunus Emre Oratorio on stage after 54 years

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The concert features the TURKSOY Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Griffith Singers.

After 54 years “Yunus Emre Oratorio,” a famous classical music piece, was brought back to the stage by The International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) in Washington D.C.

On April 23 the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community celebrated Turkish music and culture through a symphony orchestra and choral performance entitled “TURKSOY Presents: Symphony of Voices from Turkic Lands.” Conducted by the renowned Professor Rengim Gokmen, “Symphony of Voices from Turkic Lands” brought the sounds of Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s masterful “Yunus Emre Oratorio” to life on the impressive stage of the Strathmore Music Center.

The concert featured the TURKSOY Symphony Orchestra, which is composed of 80 distinguished performers hailing from several Turkic nations, and the New York-based Jonathan Griffith Singers.
The hour-long performance afforded audience members a special opportunity to view multinational musicians on stage together.

One of the most important representatives of early Turkish mysticism, 13th-century poet Yunus Emre, devoted himself to the themes of divine love and human destiny. 20th-century musician Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s interpretation of Emre’s work incorporates Turkish modes and folk melodies into a post-romantic-style oratorio.

As one of the most famous Turkish musicians Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s international acclaim flourished after his “Yunus Emre Oratorio” hit the music world. Composed in 1946, the oratorio has been translated into five languages and performed worldwide, including an English-language performance given at the United Nations in 1958.

After the performance of the piece in the U.N. retired ambassador Haluk Bayulken said “some country representatives who came to attend the concert without much interest could not hide their admiration and enthusiasm at the end of the performance and looked at Turkish representatives at the U.N. with much respect.”

The second show comes to the stage today.