KEEPINTOUCH
During the academic year 2011/12 I worked as a piano accompanist for almost 6 months at the Music Department of the Yasar University of Izmir, thanks to the European Leonardo da Vinci’s Program. It was a great experience! It made me grow as a pianist and as a person, ’cause I had the chance to meet beautiful and friendly people of different cultures and to play with very good young musicians. I really enjoyed my stay there! If I could, I’d do it again and again.”
Pier Francesco Forlenza
Aurora Sabia
Da Vinci WWM Programme Intern in Piano.
Trieste,Italy
Piano Proffessor. Conservatorio di Como
Como, Italia
Costantino Catena
Piano Proffesor. Conservatorio di Musica “D.Cimarosa” di Avellino
Avellino, Italy
Amanda Smallbone
Voice Proffesor. University of Winchester
England.
Nico Schuller
Theory Proffesor. Texas State University Music Department
Texas, USA
Howard Curtis
Jazz Drums Proffesor. University of Music and Performing Arts
Graz, Austria
“I was at Yasar University in November last year. It was a very nice experience for me mostly because of the extraordinary colleagues I worked with and the friendship that we developed that made me feel at home from the very start. Also, it was the opportunity to meet young pianists – and composers too with great talent and that is always a pleasure.
Walking around the campus, under the palm trees, the atmosphere is very pleasant. They also have a very nice concert hall – I enjoyed playing there very much.
Everybody is managing the whole music department with great passion and when you are there you cannot help feeling the positive energy that comes from their work and enthusiasm.
Since I am back I have been thinking at when I can go there again.”
“I have now had the pleasure of visiting Yaşar University twice, and on both occasions I have been struck not only by the wonderful welcome and generous hospitality I have been shown, but also by the genuine warmth and enthusiasm of everyone – staff and students- with whom I have worked.
In July 2012 I had the pleasure of accompanying five of my students to attend the first ‘Project Muse’ Intensive Project at Yaşar University, where we were joined by staff and students from 9 other institutions across Europe for a truly inspiring and enriching two weeks of learning, discussion and exchange of ideas. The project was expertly organised and led by Payam Susanni, Erasmus Coordinator for Music Department and Gökay Özerim, European Expert in the EU Office, and we enjoyed two, very intensive, weeks of lectures, concerts, workshops and social events. For all of us, staff and students alike, it was a project during which we not only learnt so much from such a variety of talented musicians and academics, but also as importantly, forged life-long friendships and institutional partnerships on which we continue to build. I know that for my students this was a life-changing experience which they will not forget, and they continue to stay in touch with the friends they made in Izmir.
I was thrilled to be invited back to participate in Yaşar University’s European Week in May 2013 as part of the the Erasmus staff mobility programme. It was wonderful to be able to work and socialise with musician colleagues from across Europe once again and to forge new connections. Once again, this week was organised with real style and efficiency and once again the genuinely warm welcome we received was wonderful. On this visit I was fortunate to be able to work with some of the voice students from the music department at Yaşar and found them to be delightful – really open to new ideas and full of wonderful enthusiasm.
Thank you so much for these wonderful experiences and I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership in the years to come!”
“At Yasar University I was fine: a modern university, very functional and well organized, where the human aspect has always been present, combined with the professional.
I got the impression that this young university has a great desire to grow and hope to return again in the near future!”
“I visited Yasar University in March 2013 for the First International Music Conference, organized and hosted by Professor Paolo Susanni from the Music Department. I was extremely impressed with the professionalism, interest in advanced scholarship, and the high level of education provided to students at Yasar. The fact that performance and scholarship are integrated speaks to the high quality of music studies at Yasar.”
“My experience at Yasar has never been anything less than spectacular, whether I was involved with solo concerts, workshops, meeting with the faculty or having dinner with the President of the school”
I look forward to many more pleasant times with the Yasar family.
Traveling to Turkey and going to Yasar and working with students, collegues and administration is always a very warm, pleasant and artistically fulfilling venture for me.”
Erato Alakiozidou
Concert Pianist, Director of MCT/ Synthermia International Music Festival/ Idee Fixe Ensemble/ Int.Coord.of SCT.
Greece
“Invitation of the highly valued and overactive Mrs Payam Gul Susanni, to be involved in the European international week of Izmir University (Spring 2013) This is indeed a high-level organization that enables visitors to share their knowledge with students of the University.The level is very good and the colleagues in a very high-level.I had the opportunity to attend Mr.Paolo Susanni classes and I was impresed.
I hope that the University will continue to organize the event with even greater success and I will be glad to offer my help in anyway, as I am also very sensitive in the relationship of the history between the two cities of Izmir and Thessaloniki.
Ι would like to congratulate Mrs. Susanni for the effort and also the Director of the music department for this great event, which keeps active the interest of teachers and the students with such special guests and warm hospitality.
With my warmest regards.”
