Turkish student's doctoral thesis becomes book in US

By Betul Yuruk

NEW YORK

A Turkish doctoral student’s thesis on 20th-century music has been published as a book in the U.S.

“My book’s title is Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child. In my book, I widely covered the music language used and the composition technique used by Olivier Messiaen, a famous 20th-century composer,” Cagdas Soylar told Anadolu Agency.

Soylar sent her doctoral thesis, which she wrote at the Yasar University Department of Music in Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir, to a publishing house in California, after her acquaintances encouraged her to do so.

Soylar said that the publishing house got back to her after a month and that they found the thesis "very interesting", and added that the thesis, which she wrote in English, was published as a book in October 2018.

Soylar, who is working on a project to translate the book into Turkish, describes her work by saying: “I made a detailed analysis of Messiaen’s two works he wrote on solo piano, and I discussed how the composer combined his original composition technique with Catholic faith and I gave pianists performance suggestions.”

“I’m preparing to attend conferences on 20th century music as a speaker. I also introduce Olivier Messiaen’s art, which I wrote in my book, to students by giving educational concerts at universities,” she continued.

Caglar also said she holds book signings in various universities and bookstores in California.

Who is Cagdas Soylar?

Soylar pursued her undergraduate education at the Piano Department of Hacettepe University's Ankara State Conservatory.

In 2009, she received her graduate degree from Pittsburg State University in the U.S. and ranked second in the state in a national piano competition.

She also won a concerto and aria competition organized by the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, and gave concerts along with the same orchestra in various states throughout the U.S.

Soylar was accepted as an honorary member of Northwestern University’s music society in Chicago, and she performed many times across the U.S., Europe and Canada.

She is an accompanist at the Azusa Pacific University in California.