Number of opera viewers on rise in Turkey

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

ADOB Manager and Art Director Aykut Çınar (L) says if the logistic condition of the building is changed as they imagine, the ADOB will become a globally notable art institution.

The Ankara State Opera and Ballet (ADOB), which renewed its repertoire and acts, appealing to people of all ages, reached 50,000 viewers in the first half of the 2013-2014 art season in 3.5 months.

Performing before 15,000 people during the opening play last October, the highest number of viewers in its history, ADOB draws huge interest from art lovers. ADOB Manager and Art Director Aykut Çınar speaking about 2013 said the repertoire was ready when he took the office last year, but they prepared this year’s repertoire with his team. He said they included works from various styles to reach a variety of people. In this way, Çınar said they could reach everyone, children and adults, living in Ankara in 2013-2014 season. “We staged nearly 30 operas, ballets and operettas, modern dance shows and concerts every month. We have so far performed more than 100 pieces in total. The number of our views increased by 7,000 in the first half of the season compared to the second part of the last season. We have reached 50,000 art lovers.”

He said still those numbers were insufficient for them. “This is very good. Why? Because this is parallel to our physical conditions; if we have a larger hall, we could reach these numbers in 1.5 months. I am sure our performance will increase by 50 percent. Above all, if the logistic condition of the building is changed like they imagine, ADOB will become a notable art institution for the world, because we have potential.”

‘We need to reach everyone living in Ankara’

Çınar said he never agreed with the idea that contemporary artwork like opera and ballet appealed to a certain section only, and continued:

“We need to reach everyone living in Ankara. Now we distribute more than 20,000 catalogues at the beginning of every month. It is distributed with newspapers and includes our monthly schedule. In this way, the number of our viewers and those who know about us considerably increased. The purpose of such practices is ADOB is the institute for all citizens living in Ankara. It has been operating for 65 years. We want to perform the pieces people like, go to prisons, come together with children and give concerts in open areas. This is an onerous struggle and is sometimes very hard.”

He said they attempted to change the viewpoint of the administration and receive financial gain from concerts given by worldwide renowned names last year. According to Çınar, ADOB is an education institute as well as an art institute. “We should bring art to people for cheap prices,” he said, adding the State Opera and Ballet was an art institute to appeal to the taste of the public and they competed against the world’s most important institutions.

Sold within two hours

He noted tickets for the “Count Dracula” ballet, which they gave the world premiere this year, were sold out within the first two hours. “Our country’s understanding of art is on a high level and I hope that my generation can see a building befitting the Turkish Republic. The technical opportunity and capacity of our current opera building is obvious. Yet, we have projects better than the other similar art institutions in the world. I am not modest about this issue at all,” he said.

Çınar said ADOB had a wide repertoire from the all Turkish “Arda Boyları,” “Anatolia with Sounds,” “Archine Mal Alan” to “Rigoletto” and “Macbeth.”

“This is a repertoire that not one of the European institutions can organize in a single season. We perform all these with the same dancers,” Çınar said, adding tickets for their concert at ATO Congresium within a few hours and they also organized events at Cermodern to increase the number at their shows.

The premiers of ADOB in the 2013-2014 season include “Archine Mal Alan,” “The Bat,” Carmen,” “Attila,” “Verdi,” “Coppelia,” “Count Dracula” and Nasreddin Hodja children’s plays. Among the operas and ballets that will be stage again include “Rigoletto,” “Macbeth,” “Don Giovanni,” “Anatolia with Sounds,” the “Fantastic” musical, “Tenor Wanted,” “Musicians of the Bremen Town,” “The Seraglio,” “Zorba the Greek,” “The Amazons,” “Love’s Worth,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Day and Night” and “Arda Boyları.”