1001 Nights in the Harem was commissioned by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra - a violin concerto written for Patricia Kopatchinskaja, with whom Fazýl Say formed a duo in 2006. The title recalls the famous collection of fairytales The Thousand and One Nights, and just as Scheherazade is the tireless narrator in that work, so the solo violinist in Fazýl Say"s concerto takes on the role of `principal storyteller".