Pianist // Scholar
Meet
Cagdas
Soylar
Upcoming Performances
Piano Recital,
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 1, 2027
Selected Recent Engagements
Piano Recital - Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
Guest Lecturer - Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA
Piano Recital & Masterclass - Jacksonville State Uni., AL
Speaker, 67th Annual Matthay Piano Festival, Nazareth Uni., Rochester, NY.
Dr. Cagdas Soylar is an internationally recognized Turkish-born pianist, author, and educator. A recipient of multiple piano competition awards, she is known for her expertise in twentieth-century music, particularly the works of the French composer Olivier Messiaen. She has also been inducted into prestigious music honor societies in recognition of her achievements as a pianist and scholar.
Dr. Soylar has performed extensively across Europe, Asia, and the United States at major venues, including the Verona Philharmonic Theatre in Italy and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Upcoming engagements include her Carnegie Hall debut in 2027. She holds a doctoral degree (DMA) in Piano Performance and a second master’s degree in Collaborative Piano. Her collaborative career has included appointments at Pittsburg State University and Azusa Pacific University, along with many years of teaching through university instruction, private teaching, masterclasses, and educational programs. In December 2026, she will serve as an international jury member for the Sonorus International Piano Competition, organized by the Sonorus Arts Institute in Italy.
In addition to her performing career, Dr. Soylar is the author of Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018), an acclaimed scholarly study examining the life and distinctive musical language of the prominent twentieth-century French composer Olivier Messiaen. Praised by scholars as “a valuable contribution to modern Messiaen research,” the book is held in major research collections worldwide, including the Performing Arts Research Collection of the New York Public Library, the Royal Library of the Netherlands, the Hong Kong Academic Library Link, and the College of Europe Library.
Dr. Soylar is available for guest artist residencies, solo and collaborative performances, masterclasses, lectures, adjudication, and educational outreach programs. Her presentations combine artistic insight with scholarly research, offering audiences and students an engaging perspective on piano performance, interpretation, and the music of Olivier Messiaen.
Recordings
Videos
My New Channel
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
Piano Lessons
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