For Turks With Talent

Had the capital of Turkey been much larger, the incident might have passed unnoticed, but before long all of Ankara seemed to be talking about Idil Biret, the amazing four-year-old daughter of a local sugar-refinery official. One day in 1946 little Idil sat down at the piano, and without a note of music before her, dashed off a Bach piece she had just heard over the radio. The story gave newspapers and music lovers an idea: Why couldn't the state send Turkey's child prodigies abroad for proper study?

The idea eventually reached the ears of the National Assembly, which in 1948 passed the Suna Kan and Idil Biret Law to send Idil and twelve-year-old Violinist Suna Kan to Paris. On the advice of the Ministry of Education, the Assembly not only provided funds for the girls but also for all members of their families. Then it sat back to see just how the prodigies would make out.

As students at the Conservatoire National, the girls did remarkably well. Violinist Kan won first prize in the annual

Conservatoire competition, another first prize in Italy and a second prize in Munich, is now planning to return home in triumph for a concert tour. Pianist Biret not only performed in public, she also had some of her own compositions played on the French national radio. Encouraged by these records, the Turkish government decided to expand its program, this year put 14 youngsters through a rigid set of tests and interviews to pick those qualified to go abroad. Last week three more Turkish prodigies were in Paris waiting 'o begin their formal studies. The three: Verda Erman, 12, daughter of a Wagons-Lits Cook inspector in Istanbul. Verda began playing the piano at six, showed so much promise that her parents and music teacher decided to enter her in the ministry's contest. When she won, her father took a leave of absence, now lives comfortably, at his government's expense, with his wife and child in an apartment in suburban Sevres. Hasan Kaplan, 14, lives with his sister, mother and father, a retired naval officer turned art teacher, in a hotel on the Left Bank. Having begun to paint as a toddler, Hasan has had a one-man show in Turkey, exhibited his canvases in both Paris and New York (TIME, Nov. 10, 1952). Ates Pars, 14, son of an Ankara State Opera tenor and a former member of the opera chorus, both of whom were violently opposed to his becoming a musician ("The life of an artist is too hard"). Two years ago they made the mistake of buying a piano, which Ates promptly began to play. After only 22 lessons, his music teacher sent him home, saying "I can't teach him any more." Last year visiting British Composer Benjamin Britten heard Ates play two original compositions, became so enthusiastic that the Parses decided to let their son try for a travel grant. Said a wistful Mrs. Pars in her Montparnasse hotel room last week: "We knew he'd win, and he did