Pekinels and the proud night of young talents.

FİLİZ ALİ
04/05/09

The Music Department students of TEV İnanç Türkeş Private High School gave an unforgettable concert with the Pekinel duo at Boğaziçi University last week…

A girl, who appears to be 12-13 years old on the stage plays Dvorak’s Humoresque with the violin she picked up for the first time eight and a half months ago. A little later, a slightly older young man interprets Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue on the piano with great seriousness, sensitivity and skill. Furthermore, we listen to Chopin’s Waltzes and Mazurkas from three girls who seem to be around 14 years old. Then comes the wind instruments: 1 flute, 2 clarinets and 1 bassoon. First they sing Mozart’s ‘Little Night Music’, then the unforgettable master of Argentine tango Carlos Gardel’s ‘Por Una Cabeza’, and finally Scott Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’.

Children with superior-high intelligence

But who are these young people? All of them are actually students of the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) İnanç Türkeş Private High School. The school was established in 1990, with the aim of educating gifted and talented children with limited financial resources. In 2006, as Güher and Süher Pekinel decided to share their knowledge and experience with these talented students, The TEVİTÖL-Güher & Süher Pekinel Music Department was established. Ömer Koç, TEVİTÖL Executive Board Chairman Adnan İğnebekçili and TEV General Manager Turgut Bozkurt are among the names who supported the establishment of the department. Study rooms were built for the department and nearly 70 instruments were purchased. They also supervised and financed the education given here.

When I went to the school for a talk, upon the invitation of Güher Pekinel a few months ago, I saw with my own eyes, how the music department was meticulously established by the Pekinels; how the teachers were chosen with great devotion among idealist musicians; how the school administration fully supported this project, and how enthusiastically and eagerly the students embraced learning and knowledge.

On the evening of April 30, 2009, in the backstage of Boğaziçi University Albert Long Hall, these idealistic teachers were as excited as their students. In front of these talents, who could play instruments such as violin, piano, cello, flute, clarinet and bassoon at a concert level in a short period of two years,the audience couldn’t stop themselves from weeping.Selected from all parts of the country, these children, in the opinion of Pekinels, “learn to be creative and think transparently through music”.

Kesikli surprised the audience

As a matter of fact, Egemen Kesikli, who is graduated from TEVİTÖL, studyies both, composition and political science with a full scholarship in the USA, masterfully combined the traditional instrument Ney and Western instruments, which he tried in his work called “Neither Yes, Neither No” in the concert, surprised the audience.

The Pekinel duo, crowned the end of the concert with Rachmaninoff’s Fantasie Tableaux, but there was also another surprise: they interpreted the heavy part of Bach’s Concerto for 2 Pianos, accompanied by a small orchestra of students and bid farewell to the audience with their students.