Fazil Say honored at music festival in Germany

Turkish classical pianist-composer Fazil Say has been honored at the international Zelt-Musik-Festival, which is marking its 31st edition from June 26 to July 14, in the German city of Freiburg. Accompanied by the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Say performed at the gala concert of the festival on Sunday. The pianist played a piece by Mozart in addition to his compositions in the concert, which was attended by nearly 2,500 music lovers. At the end of Say's performance, Germany-based Turkish politician Cem Ozdemir presented the pianist with the festival's honorary award, the Dogan news agency reported. Expressing his happiness at taking part in the festival, Say said he first came to the city when he was 17 years old to learn German, adding that Sunday's performance was his first ever concert in Freiburg. Jurgen A. Bach, the owner of the publishing company Seemann Henschel that published the self-titled biography of Say by author Jurgen Otten, promoted the book before the concert. Music lovers showed great interest in the book and albums of the pianist, which were on sale at the festival.