Youth orchestra visiting villages

MALATYA - Anatolia News Agency

As well as Turkish folk songs, the youth orchestra plays some of the best-known tunes of celebrated composers such as Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Conductor Murat Arapgirlioğlu also plays some of the tunes that he composes.

Intent on spreading an appreciation of classical music in Turkey, Malatya’s İnönü University Youth Orchestra is traveling to different cities and districts to give classical music concerts.

The orchestra plays some of the best-known tunes of celebrated composers such as Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Conductor Murat Arapgirlioğlu also plays some of the tunes that he composed while the orchestra also plays some Anatolian folk Turkish tunes. The orchestra interprets the Turkish folk songs in a symphonic style.

Speaking to Anatolia news agency, Arapgirlioğlu said they traveled and played Mozart in different villages and cities.

The orchestra, which was founded in 2010, currently has 60 students. Arapgirlioğlu
said they wanted to travel to different villages and present their works to people. Other music
departments in the university also present their work to people by traveling to different cities, he added.

“Mozart in the past was going to people to make them listen to his works. We do not want to restrict ourselves with the actual crowd we have been visited by and we decided to visit people instead of them visiting us,” said Arapgirlioğlu, adding that they wanted to share their projects with everyone.

Noting that the orchestra was founded in 1989 with a strings component, Arapgirlioğlu said that it subsequently changed a great deal, becoming more professional. By 2010, it had become a true youth orchestra with different musical instruments, he added.

With the support of the second area Bando Commandership, they have added wind and percussion instruments.

The orchestra is now aiming to go international in its efforts, Arapgirlioğlu said.

“We travel to different areas and regions, and we aim to go to smaller villages and present our music there. People … may be hearing classical music for the first time, and this is very important to us,” he said, adding that the orchestra members were always very happy when first-time listeners appreciated the classical music.

‘We alter the music’

“We aim to create our repertoire from the best tunes,” he said. “We alter the music according to its quality and not its genres.”

Arapgirlioğlu said people who come to listen to them in small villages ask questions about the instruments and show a huge interest, adding that they wonder about how an instrument sounds and ask questions.

“We give information to them and explain what those instruments sound like and also how they are related to other instruments in the orchestra,” said the conductor. “We need to give information about the content of the music and the instruments, and that’s why we inform them.”

Noting that they needed financial support for their works, Arapgirlioğlu said they had to reject invitations to attend international festivals and events because they lack money, adding that they would like to receive support from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.