Mother Earth concerto — A climate crisis creation

Pianist-composer Fazıl Say premieres his ‘Mother Earth’ Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra this weekend

Days before it’s London premiere, Turkish pianist-composer Fazıl Say talks about his powerful Piano Concerto ‘Mother Earth’ – a work inspired by the climate crisis and the urgent need to protect our planet. The work premieres Sunday 30 November with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, alongside Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The comments below are lighted edited for clarity. A video clip follows the transcript.

I am Fazıl Say from Turkey, living in Istanbul, a pianist and composer. I will play my own piano concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London in November 2025 which is a great honor for me. This new concerto is called ‘Mother Earth’ Piano Concerto. It’s an honor for me to be here as both a composer and as a soloist.

My music is influenced, of course, from Turkish rhythms and melodies, which are quite different than Europeans forms. We have these irregular bars; there may be also in this new piece many different rhythms.

‘Mother Earth’ Piano Concerto is created in 2024 for a large orchestra with an expanded percussion section. It is about the world’s climate problems, ecological problems, these

fires in forests, and bad situations at the poles. It looks like humans are killing this planet’s life a little bit. We face a warning situation; it is more than a warning situation actually.

So my piece is a ‘giving a message’ piece, about 30 minutes long, in seven parts:

I Prelude
II Earth
III Forest
IV Interlude
V Sea
VI River
VII Postlude.

It is built around unique melodies, unusual (for Europeans) rhythms, and complex orchestration.

I have to feel the music from inside and give the music, every note, life, and that, for me, determines the shape of the work. In my compositions, in my works, whether for orchestra or piano it’s the same: tell the story, and touch the people with the music. That’s what I’m working towards.

I hope this English audience enjoys the work.

To learn more about Fazil Say go here.

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