On 11 October 2026, soprano Burcu Hancı performed at São Luiz Teatro Municipal in Lisbon in “Relações de Amizade Portugal–Türkiye”. The concert was organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Lisbon to mark the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It took place in the theatre’s main hall, which has kept its red-and-gold interior and painted ceiling since it opened in Chiado in 1894, and the hall was almost full.

The aim of the programme was to bring the musical heritage of both countries together with the European classical tradition. Turkish and Portuguese folk melodies were reworked in classical arrangements for voice, violin and piano, and placed alongside opera and operetta. Through the music, the concert set out to express the long friendship, cultural dialogue and mutual respect between Türkiye and Portugal.

Hancı shared the stage with violinist Cihat Aşkın, bass-baritone Teyfik Rodos, pianist Çağdaş Özkan and Portuguese guitarist Ricardo J. Martins. She had worked with both Aşkın and Rodos before: with Aşkın in the Turkish Waltzes concerts in Ankara and İzmir, and with Rodos in a 2024 concert with the Cyprus Turkish Republic Presidential Symphony Orchestra.

Her first piece of the evening was Muammer Sun’s Bozkırın Sesi (The Voice of the Steppe). Sun was one of the leading Turkish composers of the Republican era and drew heavily on Anatolian folk music. Hancı sang the same piece at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2023. It was followed by Ahmet Şefik Gürmeriç’s Hasret. The title means “longing”, and the programme translated it into Portuguese as saudade, a word that came back more than once during the evening.

Her solo arias included Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi, an opera she knows from the inside, having sung the role of Ciesca with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic. She also sang Arditi’s waltz song “Il bacio” and “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß” from Giuditta, Lehár’s last operetta.

With Teyfik Rodos she sang the duet “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in which Don Giovanni tries to win over the young Zerlina, and the waltz duet “Lippen schweigen” from Lehár’s The Merry Widow.

The concert closed with Necip Celal Andel’s Özleyiş Tangosu. The audience’s response was excellent throughout, and the evening ended with long applause.

Photos: @clicksncrackers