Prof. İhsan Doğramacı’s 96th Birthday to be Commemorated

April 3, 2011 marks the 96th anniversary of Prof. İhsan Doğramacı's birth.

This season the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra's traditional April 3rd concert will feature works commemorating the founder of Bilkent University, Prof. İhsan Doğramacı.

The second act of the Saygun Emre opera by composer Yiğit Aydın using Şefik Kahramankaptan's libretto will be premiered at Bilkent University. The Ahmed Adnan Saygun Music Education and Research Center and TEV Turkish Education Foundation commissioned the opera. These two institutions are Ahmed Adnan Saygun's legatees.

Saygun Emre is based on eminent Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun's spiritual connection with Yunus Emre and his philosophy. Historical figures such as Atatürk, Doğramacı, and Paul Hindemith are presented in the opera, which covers Saygun's life through 1930 until his death in 1991. The second act titled the "Legacy" involves Saygun's relationship with Prof. İhsan Doğramacı, perhaps his greatest supporter. The 3 characters, İhsan Doğramacı, Ahmed Adnan Saygun, and Nilüfer Saygun are played by Tuncay Kurtoğlu, Ünüşan Kuloğlu, and Pervin Çakar.

In the second half of the concert, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, under its artistic director and conductor Işın Metin, will present Gustav Mahler's First Symphony in D major, the Titan. The symphony in four movements follows the tradition of tone poems with each movement depicting a particular part of human life.

Concert Program

Sunday, April 3 at 8 p.m. Bilkent Concert Hall
In Memory of İhsan Doğramacı
Bilkent Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Işın Metin,
Soprano: Pervin Çakar
Tenor: Ünüsan Kuloğlu
Bass: Tuncay Kurtoğlu
Y. Aydın
Scene from "Saygun Emre" Opera
G. Mahler
Symphony No.1 "Titan" in D major