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Cagdas
Soylar

Dr. Cagdas Soylar, a Turkish native, is an internationally acclaimed pianist and author. She relocated to the United States to pursue graduate studies in piano performance, earning a second master’s degree in collaborative piano and later completing her Doctoral Degree in piano performance. Throughout her career, Soylar has received numerous prestigious awards, including top prizes at several competitions, and has been inducted into esteemed national music honor societies in recognition of her academic and musical achievements.

Dr. Soylar has performed extensively as both a soloist and collaborative pianist at renowned venues throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, including the Verona Philharmonic Theatre in Italy and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. She has also served as a piano accompanist at Pittsburg State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Azusa Pacific University in Southern California, and has dedicated many years to teaching piano at various institutions.

In addition to her performing career, Soylar is the author of Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child, a work published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in 2018, which explores the life and distinctive musical language of the French composer Olivier Messiaen, one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century. The book has been praised by scholars as “a valuable contribution to modern Messiaen research,” and has been added to major collections worldwide, including the Performing Arts Research Collection of the New York Public Library and The Royal Library of the Netherlands. It is also accessible through the Hong Kong Academic Library Link and the College of Europe Library Link—home to Europe’s oldest postgraduate institute of European Studies.

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Messiaen's Musical Language on the Holy Child

Olivier Messiaen was a prominent twentieth-century French composer. His musical language includes highly complicated concepts derived from a variety of sources. Hindu rhythms, Greek rhythms, and bird calls influenced him deeply; his Catholic faith, however, had the greatest impact on his compositions. I provide a detailed analysis of two religiously motivated pieces from his Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Gazes upon the Infant Jesus), one of the most remarkable solo piano works of the twentieth-century, to explore how he integrates the Christian theology into his musical language.

Je dors, mais mon cœur veille (I sleep but my heart waketh) is a dialogue that represents Messiaen's mystic love of God, whereas Regard des Anges (Gaze of the Angels) is a celebration symbolizing the angels beholding the birth of Jesus Christ. I explain how the entirely different subjects of the two pieces are articulated in the change of pitch collections and rhythmic structures, as well as how the changes of musical language through the use of the different pitch collections generate the formal structure that is related to the biblical source.

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"Cagdas Soylar's study represents a valuable contribution to modern Messiaen research. It will benefit anyone wishing to explore in detail Messiaen's style, musical vocabulary, and deep spirituality. Through detailed and scholarly examination of two of his Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus, Ms. Soylar unpacks Messiaen's faith integration worldview--ie. ways in which his deep religious beliefs are portrayed in his music-and suggests implications for performance."

-EUGENE ALCALAY, Steinway Artist; Fulbright Scholar; President of the American Liszt Society, Southern California Chapter; Professor of Piano at Azusa Pacific University

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