My name is Sezin (Ekebalkan) and I'm a first year student at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts. I'm very excited to share with you some good feelings from the summer.

This summer was very special and unforgettable for me because I had many experiences in real life and in my profession. I joined a summer school in France. This school, "Academie Internationale de Musique de Guerande," was in a small historical town on the shore of the Atlantic. It was located in northern France, in a region called Bretain. I had a chance to visit many places near Guerande and all the towns were beautiful; it was like a fantasy world.

What was most important for me was the musical experience I had there. I met many different nationalities from all around the world: France, Mauritiania, Romania, Japan, China, Holland, and others. We came from different cultures, we spoke different languages but we had the same feelings. When we were playing music, we were ONE! It was a great pleasure for me to play with them. Everybody was loving and kind to one another. I was touched by the hospitality of French people.

I remembered Sezin's letter as the music played at the Presidential Symphonic Orchestra's (CSO) opening night on Friday, October 2. It was a musical feast for classical music lovers. When Conductor Gürer Aykal's impressive performance combined with soloist Gülsin Onay's fabulous fingers at the piano playing Mozart, the audience's thirst for an "encore" was not easy to subdue. Even the orchestra members were reluctant to leave the stage. The audience's appreciation of good music rose to a crescendo at the end with Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) Pathetique symphony finale. Music bonds people and goes way beyond, I thought.

The Bilkent University community is very lucky to have such world-famous names as their faculty members; students are also very lucky that they have a music section in the library with 11,200 pieces of printed music, 1,315 video casettes (of operas and concerts) and 2,450 audio cassettes of classical music that they can check out during library hours. The facility also offers listening booths with headsets for those who would like to study to the sound of music.

BASSO concerts are starting on Monday, October 19, as well. "The Fall-Winter 1998-99 Concert Program is like a bird's eye view of the cornerstones that built the history of European symphony," says Professor Ersin Onay, Dean of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts.

The Bilkent Academic Concert series also include a colorful spectrum of symphonic concerts, chamber music, and recitals. "There has been an effort to have international conductors and soloists play the works of Turkish composers. Also, Turkish soloists were paired with international conductors. That way," Professor Onay explains, "once we are in their repertoire, we have a better chance to voice ourselves abroad." Each concert program of the new season reflects a thematic unity. We join Professor Onay's wishes: "In the next concert season we will have reached the year 2000; we would like you to join us for a peaceful world filled with music as we are entering the 21st century."

Feed your soul with good music. Let the music play and take you to other times and places. Enjoy those timeless masterpieces.