With his exceptional pianistic artistry, Fazıl Say has been captivating audiences and critics around the world for decades, in a way that is uniquely his own. A concert with Fazıl Say is never simply a performance: it is immediate, open and electrifying, speaking directly to the heart.
Since the beginning of his career, he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, building up a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach to Viennese Classical, Romantic and contemporary music, including his own compositions for piano. His guest performances have taken Fazıl Say to countries across all five continents. He also appears regularly as a chamber musicician. He has maintained a long-standing duo partnership with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, while other notable collaborators include Maxim Vengerov, Nicolas Altstaedt, Anastasia Kobekina and Marianne Crebassa.
As a composer, Fazıl Say has received commissions from many of the world’s leading institutions, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the BBC, the Salzburg Festival, WDR, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Cartier and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, among others. His œuvre encompasses six symphonies, two oratorios, numerous solo concertos, and a wide range of works for piano, chamber ensembles and orchestra.
In the 2026/27 season, Fazıl Say embarks on tours with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Roberto González-Monjas, as well as the Kammerorchester Basel, appearing at leading venues across Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. He also returns to the hr-Symphonieorchester in Frankfurt with Alain Altinoglu, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with David Afkham, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg with Omer Meir Wellber, as well as to Camerata Salzburg and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In Asia, he returns to the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, performing his "Mother Earth" Piano Concerto with Long Yu.
In recital, he embarks on a tour with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, appearing in Zurich, Bern, Madrid, Barcelona, Dresden and Hannover, among other cities, to coincide with the release of their new album on Alpha Classics. Further highlights include an appearance at the Wiener Konzerthaus with Gautier Capuçon, as well as solo recitals in Paris, Oslo, Munich, Stuttgart, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo and Osaka. He also returns to Madrid as part of his residency with the CNDM.
The 2026/27 season also sees the premiere of several significant new works by Fazıl Say, including an Accordion Concerto written for Ksenija Sidorova and a new Triple Concerto commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein. Further premieres include a saxophone quartet for the SIGNUM saxophone quartet and a Concert Piece for Piano, Trumpet and Strings (2027), commissioned by the Kammerorchester Basel.
Fazıl Say has built an extensive discography of more than 50 recordings, released on labels including Teldec Classics, naïve and Warner Classics. His recordings have received numerous accolades, including four ECHO Klassik Awards and a Gramophone Classical Music Award. Notable releases include his critically acclaimed complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Bach’s "Goldberg Variations", both released by Warner Classics in January 2020. In the 2026/27 season, his "Mother Earth" Piano Concerto, recorded with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, will be released alongside an ARTE documentary exploring the creation of the work. He also continues to release his own compositions on his label, ACM. His latest album, "Oiseaux tristes", released by Warner Classics in September 2024, received the 2025 OPUS KLASSIK Award in the category "Solo Recording – Instrument of the Year".