The Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra decided to establish this year the worldwide institution of Artist-in-Residence, which allows the audience to get to know an artist more deeply, but also for an orchestra to develop a multifaceted collaboration with him. The first Artist-in-Residence in the history of the TSSO was chosen to be the great Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say, with the very first collaboration in this context captivating the audience, as Say performed his stirring piano concerto 'Mother Earth', which constitutes a dramatic wake-up call for the climate crisis and the need to protect the environment. The artist was praised by the audience at the end of the work and was personally congratulated by the new Consul of Turkey in Thessaloniki, Mr. Erdem Kutlu.
The second part of the concert began with five of Ralph Vaughan Williams' 'Folk Songs of the 4 Seasons', with the female vocal ensemble Voci Contra Tempo under the direction of Sofia Gioldasi taking the stage together with the TSSO and concluded with two excerpts from Bedřich
Smetana's masterpiece 'Má vlast
', specifically "From Bohemia's Woods and Fields
" and "The Moldau
". The audience responded enthusiastically to the orchestra and conductor Miltos Logiadis for this concert-hymn to Nature, which called on everyone to love its beauties, to think about its importance and to protect it.