Aida opera at Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival

ANTALYA - Anatolia News Agency

The Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra accompanied the performance of the work of Giuseppe Verdi, ‘Aida,’ featuring an upsetting love story.

Within the scope of the 20th International Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival, the Czech Republic National Brno Theater presented “Aida” opera at the Aspendos Ancient Theater. The Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra accompanied the performance of the musical work of Giuseppe Verdi, showing the upsetting love story of Ethiopian Princess Aida and young Egyptian warrior Ramades.

The conductor of the orchestra, Peter Freanec, the stage manager Jaromir Brych, the scenery design manager Savaş Camgöz, the costume designer Josef Jelinek, the light effect chief Petr Kozumplik and the choreographer Zdenek Prokes, created a perfect show.

The festival opened on June 5 with “Centuries’ Love on Aspendos.” The music for the work was composed by Hasan Niyazi Tura, its choreography was done by Nuzgar Magalashwil and the libretto by Şefik Kahramankaptan.

On June 15 the Ankara State Opera will be staging the “Rigoletto” opera by Yekta Kara. On June 19, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s classic “Swan Lake” will be on stage. This season, the choreography of “Swan Lake” was conceived by Mehmet Balkan, in a departure from the earlier choreography of Petipa and Ivanov.”

Özge Başaran and Deniz Zirek will be taking the stage in the role of Odette, while Odile will be played by İlke Kodal, Tülay Yalçınkaya and Müge Celiloğlu. Jozef Varga from the Dutch National Ballet (Het National Ballet) will take on the role of Prince Siegfried as a guest artist of the ballet. The costumes will be designed by Savaş Camgöz.

Aspendos’ lower area

The shows are taking place at Aspendos’ lower area, as the other areas have still yet to be restored. The festival earlier currently hosts around 2,500 people, but a total of 6,000 or 7,000 may watch the shows after the restorations, said the representatives. However, currently only acoustic works are staged because others may damage the architecture.