Commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music with the sponsorship of Sherrill Akyol in memory of Dr. Salim Akyol. Dr. Salim Akyol grew up in Turkey, but after medical school, spent most of his life in the United States. He loved the U.S. but never stopped longing for his home country: the sights, the sounds, the culture, the food, and the people. This love and longing from a great distance is the inspiration for Far Variations.My personal experience from being based in these two countries helps me in imagining what Dr. Akyol must have felt. It is exciting, a lot of fun and a privilege to belong to two countries, but emotionally not always easy. Being a doctor and a father in the U.S., Dr. Akyol could not travel to Turkey often. His love had to be from a distance. The titles within Far Variations are: from far (theme), close passion, far within, dance fire, far dance, ripples, obsession fire, far ripples, fire within, from far within, distant passion and far gathering (variations).
