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Music Monday | Istanbul Before the City Wakes | August 24, 2026
- 12 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Few living composers are as interesting as Fazıl Say. Born in Ankara in 1970, the Turkish pianist and composer is a genuine original: classically trained in Germany, equally fluent in jazz, and deeply rooted in the musical heritage of his country. His music can be thunderously virtuosic or achingly still, sometimes both in the same piece. He has also spent much of his career in and out of controversy in Turkey for his outspoken views, which has only deepened the sense that his music comes from somewhere real.
Winter Morning in Istanbul, composed in 2012 for piano four hands, is one of his most beloved pieces. Say himself called it “a very effective and romantic winter morning in Istanbul.” It is exactly that: hushed, luminous, and full of the quality of winter light over water that anyone who has been lucky enough to witness the Bosphorus at dawn will recognize instantly.
Performing it here are Mada & Hugh, the duo of Mădălina Dănilă and Hugh Sung, winners of the 2024 London International Piano Competition and the 2023 Charleston International Competition. Hugh served for 19 years on the faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
If you are reading this in Miami you are experiencing the stifling August heat, so close your eyes, press play, and let a winter morning in Istanbul take you away.
