Hoinic: Gordion Cantata

Saygun Philharmonic Choir performed Brahms' Academic Festival Overture Op.80 and Bujor Hoinic's Gordion Cantata in its second concert. Muammer Sun, Ertuğrul Oğuz Fırat and Muzaffer Arkan Girls Choir, coached by Çiğdem Aytepe and Atilla Çağdaş Değer, came together and performed as Gordion Choir in this concert.

Şefik Kahramankaptan's concert impressions written for Andante magazine are as follows:

Gordion Cantata in memory of A.T. Kışlalı

Bujor Hoinic's Gordion Cantata, dedicated to the memory of Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, who was murdered in a heinous assassination 15 years ago on the day of its premiere, was magnificently performed by the Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer's son conductor Artun Hoinic and the Gordion Choir prepared by Atilla Çağdaş Değer and Çiğdem Aytepe.

Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 2011 by Fazlı Orhun Orhon, one of our young generation conductors. The orchestra, which continues its activities under the auspices of Müzgender (Association of Youth Living with Music) and SCAMV and under the general musical direction of Orhun, is composed of young people who continue their education in different semesters at the conservatories of Ankara, Bilkent, Hacettepe and Başkent Universities. The Gordion Choir was formed for this concert by bringing together MÜZED, Muammer Sun and EOF Choirs under the direction of Atilla Çağdaş Değer and Çiğdem Aytepe.

Composer and conductor Bujor Hoinic wrote this cantata in four movements inspired by the history of Phrygia, one of the ancient civilizations of Anatolia. In the four sections titled Pessinus, Cybele, The Hague and Gordion, Hoinic also used some deciphered texts from the ancient Phrygian alphabet, and in the orchestral writing, he paid special attention to instruments such as lyre, flute, cymbal and bell that were used in Anatolia in ancient times. When Prof. Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, a former minister of culture, was assassinated by a bomb the morning of the first performance of the work, Bujor Hoinic dedicated the cantata to Kışlalı's memory with a handwritten note on the score. At the time, his son Artun Hoinic was a 13-year-old music student at Bilkent.

It was an honor that 15 years later, the work was being performed by his son Artun, who received his conducting diploma from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

Artun Hoinic was the last student of the important Russian conductor and pedagogue Rozdestveski. After his first experiments with his classmates at Bilkent, I witnessed Artun conducting a choral work for the first time. Artun Hoinic gave a successful performance with his serious, confident stance, balanced use of both hands, marking the nuances with his left hand while leading the tempo on the right, giving the attacks in the right place, directing the choir and maintaining good harmony with the orchestra. Reminding that the piece was dedicated to A.T. Kışlalı, he invited the hall to observe a minute of silence. It was the quietest moment of silence I have witnessed recently. I wish the audience could have been as silent during the performance, not clinking plastic water bottles!

After the moment of silence, the conductor invited the composer, his father, to the stage. The embrace of father and son on the same podium was a touching sight.

In the first half of the concert, our international pianist Gülsin Onay performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. Perhaps with the enthusiasm of playing with young people, she performed with more gestures and movement than usual. He received great applause from the audience and choristers. In the first half, after the Mozart concerto, the orchestra performed Brahms' Academic Festival Overture, whose choral part is usually omitted, entirely with the choir. Artun Hoinic, as a professional conductor, seemed to give everyone the message 'I am here too' with his conducting of this work.

The conductors Değer and Aytepe should be congratulated for bringing together three choirs consisting of choristers who are engaged in different professions and studying at different schools, and especially the women's choir for their clean singing.

https://www.andante.com.tr/tr/4948/A.t.-Kislali-Anisina-Gordion-Kantati