The Saygun Philharmonic Choir was represented at the ceremony by its conductor Çiğdem Aytepe and board member Aytekin Erkek. Çiğdem Aytepe, who received the Choir of the Year award from Yasemin Çetin and Orhan Bali, thanked the following:

“On behalf of all our choir members and Atilla Çağdaş Değer, the other conductor of our choir, we thank you very much for this award. Our special thanks go to conductor Orhun Orhon, who supported us wholeheartedly during the formation of our choir, to Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory for hosting us, and to Bilkent University Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, where we realized our first projects. Without these institutions, we would not exist. Their support is invaluable. There have been great developments in choral music in our country in recent years, and the success of our choirs is increasing day by day. However, compared to the population of our country, we are actually very few and we need a lot of support. In this sense, this award is of vital importance for us. Thank you again.”

The Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra, with which the Saygun Philharmonic Choir performed last year, received the Donizetti Award for Orchestra of the Year, and its conductor Orhun Orhon received the Donizetti Award for Conductor of the Year.

Çiğdem Aytepe made the following assessment after the ceremony:

During the ceremony, Şefik Kahramankaptan stated in his speech that “all nominees are winners”, which defines the philosophy of these awards and the importance of being nominated. At the end of the ceremony, we had the opportunity to meet and congratulate the representatives of the nominated choirs. As conductors and all choir members, we sincerely congratulate the “Nazım Hikmet Choir” and the “A Capella Chamber Choir”, with whom we are honored to have been nominated. We would like to sincerely thank the selection committee who deemed us worthy of this award and the people and institutions who supported our work.