Nazim Hikmet Evening in the Ancient Theatre of Iznik

After 2024 was declared the Year of Nazım Hikmet by the Bursa Municipality, the homeland poet’s unforgettable work “Bedreddin Oratorio” was performed at the Old Theater of İznik as part of the 62nd Bursa International Festival.

The 62nd International Bursa Festival, organized by BKSTV under the sponsorship of Atış Group on behalf of the Bursa Municipality, brought together the “Bedreddin Oratorio”, an adaptation of the unforgettable work of patriotic poet Nazım Hikmet, “Sheikh Bedreddin Epic”, with art lovers. While events commemorating the poet of the fatherland continued throughout the city, the unforgettable work “Bedreddin Epic Oratorio” performed by the Broad Stairs Orchestra at the Iznik Ancient Theater as part of the 62nd International Bursa Festival received a standing ovation from the audience.

The oratorio began with “In the Sedir”, a song from the first part of Nâzım Hikmet’s Şeyh Bedreddin Epic. After the song depicting the poverty of the people on the shores of Lake İznik in the early 15th century, the performers continued with the “Lake İznik” section, which tells of Sheikh Bedreddin writing his work Teshil.
The Broad Stairs Orchestra presented a complete stage work with music, songs, dances, theatrical scenes, projection and various narrative elements. The audience saw both a play and a magnificent concert. Bedreddin Oratorio has so far been performed in İzmir, Seferihisar and Yalova, as well as in Karaburun and Efes-Selçuk, the important locations of the Bedreddin and Börklüce uprisings, and was last performed in İznik as part of the Bursa Festival.

Fifteen works from the oratorio were composed entirely for this oratorio between 2009 and 2023 by Murat Mengirkaon and Barış Yıldırım for voice, choir and an orchestra consisting of instruments such as guitars, percussion, baglama, lute and violin.

At the end of the wonderful night, Bursa Deputy Kayıhan Pala thanked artists Murat Mengirkaon and Barış Yıldırım for the epic oratorio and presented the festival plaque. Pala emphasized that they remembered Nazım Hikmet with a wonderful event in a beautiful location and said: “I would also like to thank Bursa Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Bozbey and the BKSTV management for making this wonderful event possible. “We will continue to meet the people of Bursa at such wonderful events today in İznik and in all districts in the coming days,” he said.