Cagdas Soylar

I am a European concert pianist who has a Doctoral Degree in piano performance. I have 28 years of experience in playing piano and 18 years of working experience as a piano instructor in music institutions and in private lessons. I teach at student homes and give piano lessons online as well!

Always remember! One of the greatest gifts that you can give to your children is the gift of music.

Lessons are available all days of week.

Cagdas Soylar, born in Izmir, Turkey, moved to the capital city of Ankara, at the age of 11 to enroll in the H.U Ankara State Conservatory where she studied the piano for 10 years. After completing her bachelor’s degree in piano performance, she worked as an accompanist at the same conservatory and taught piano at the universities and many private institutions for several years in Turkey. In 2009, she traveled to the United States and started her graduate studies in piano performance at Pittsburg State University with an honor scholarship.

 

In 2009, Soylar was awarded 2nd place in the KMTA State Artist Piano Competition. In 2010, she was selected as a soloist by the State Symphony Orchestra and performed in the 2010-2011 season.  In 2011, she was awarded “Excellence in Professional Service” by the Pittsburg State University Department of Music. In the same year, she completed her graduate studies with the “Outstanding Student Award” and granted membership of Pi Kappa Lambda, one the most prominent American national music honor societies established at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1918 based on her incredibly high academic and musical standards. Since then, she has performed as a solo pianist and collaborative pianist in many countries in Europe, Canada, and China including China’s National Center for the Performing Arts Hall in Beijing, one of the most prestigious concert halls in Asia. 

In 2016, Soylar completed her second master’s degree in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at Azusa Pacific University in CA, USA and then her doctoral studies in piano performance in Izmir, Turkey in 2017. Living in State College, PA, she has been serving as a piano accompanist at Penn State and teaching piano at many private intuitions.

 

In October 2018, Soylar’s doctoral dissertation on Olivier Messiaen, a prominent twentieth-century French composer, was published into book by Wipf and Stock Publishers in the United States and has become available in many countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, United Kingdom and Brazil under the title of “Messiaen’s Musial Language on the Holy Child”. Columbia University, Princeton University, The University of Pennsylvania and Brown University, the most prestigious universities grouped under the label “Ivy League” in the U.S., added her book to their library collections right after it got published. Also, some other top universities including, University of California-Berkeley, Indiana University, University of Texas at Austin, New York University, Boston College, University of Chicago, University of California-San Diego, University of Groningen in Netherlands, Jacobs University Bremen in Germany and Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, one of Israel’s leading academic institutions, included her book in their library catalogues in 2019. In the same year, New York Public Library added her book to their Performing Arts Research Collection as well as The Royal Library of the Netherlands and Bavarian State Library in Munich, Germany. It has also become available in the Hong Kong Academic Library Link, a union catalogue allowing the students and staff of the eight partner institutions to search a mega collection held in the eight participant libraries in Hong Kong

In 2009, 2nd place in the KMTA State Artist Piano Competition. 

 

In 2010, I was selected as a soloist by the State Symphony Orchestra and performed in the 2010-2011 season.  

 

In 2011, I was awarded “Excellence in Professional Service” by the Pittsburg State University Department of Music. 

In 2011, I completed her graduate studies with the “Outstanding Student Award” and granted membership of Pi Kappa Lambda, one the most prominent American national music honor societies established at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1918 based on her incredibly high academic and musical standards. 

 

Since then, I have performed as a solo pianist and collaborative pianist in many countries in Europe, Canada, and China including China’s National Center for the Performing Arts Hall in Beijing, one of the most prestigious concert halls in Asia.