Aspendos Theater to host Opera and Ballet Festival

ANTALYA

The 31st International Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival, organized by the General Directorate of State Opera and Ballet (DOB), will kick off on Sept. 13 and continue through Sept. 26.

The festival, which was organized for the first time in 1994 and moved to an international level in 1998, will be held at the Aspendos Antique Theater in the Serik district of Antalya.

The curtain will open with “Aida” to be staged by the Ankara-Antalya State Opera and Ballet.

Giuseppe Verdi's world-famous opera "Aida," in which foreign guest artists soprano Joana Zhelezcheva and tenor Walter Fraccaro will open the curtain for the festival. The three-act work, which is about the impossible love of Commander Radames and the captive Abyssinian Princess Aida, will be staged by Ankara and Antalya State Opera and Ballet artists.

The director of the work is Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini, and the historical research is undertaken by Ravivaddhana Monipong Sisowath. The orchestra will be conducted by Lorenzo Castriota, and the chorus will be conducted by Mahir Seyrek.

The work will be presented to art lovers with the set design of Özgür Usta, the costume design of Savaş Camgöz and Gürcan Kubilay, the choreography of Armağan Davran, Ömür Uyanık and Sergei Terechenko and lighting design of Fuat Gök.

Aida will be played by Joana Zhelezcheva, Radames by Walter Fraccaro, Amneris by Medine Tuganova, Amonasro by Serhat Konukman, Ramfis by Engin Suna, Egyptian King Il Re by Şafak Güç, The Messenger by İsmail Enis Ok and Sacerdotessa by Serap Demirhan.

The "Opera Gala Night" will be held on Sept. 16, under the management of orchestra conductor Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg, with performances by sopranos Çiğdem Soyarslan and Dilan Ayata, mezzo-soprano Ezgi Karakaya, baritone Faik Mansuroğlu and tenor Mert Süngü.

In the festival, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet “Swan Lake” will be staged by the İzmir State Opera and Ballet, accompanied by the Antalya State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, on Sept. 20.

The guest company, Kazakhstan's Astana Ballet Theater, will be in the festival with the work “Carmen & Tango Fire” on Sept. 22.

The closing show of the festival will be composer Giacomo Puccini's opera “Tosca,” which will be staged by Antalya State Opera and Ballet on Sept. 26.