Tahrir Square becomes opera

ISTANBUL

Turkish director Yekta Kara has staged an opera about one of the Arab Spring’s iconic places, Tahrir Square. The opera recently made its premiere at the Salzburg State Opera in Austria and won recognition from the audience. 

Commissioned by the Salzburg State Theater and composed by Hossam Mahmoud, the opera “Tahrir” featured the Arab Spring and the search for freedom in Tahrir Square. 

The eponymous site of the unfolding events in the opera was Tahrir Square in Cairo - quite simply the center of the Egyptian Revolution. At the center of the action was a politician, his young wife - a self-determined revolutionary - as well as her son. Moreover, Egyptian composer Mahmoud observed the public, political and media perception of the happenings in Egypt and in Europe. He dealt poetically as well as politically with the “art of change” in his homeland. 

As well as the audience, the Austrian and German press also praised the opera after its premiere. 

German Radio reported that Kara has presented the perfect combination of musical theater and installation, adding that such a production had been wanted for a long time. “Revolution through Resonance and Spiritualism,” said the press about the opera.