Istanbul Opera Festival to kick off

ISTANBUL

The International Istanbul Opera Festival, which aims to make Istanbul stand out as one of the most distinguished artsy cities of the world and has an important place among other festivals, will meet art lovers on July 2.

Organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry State Opera and Ballet General Directorate, the festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year and continue until July 14 at the Istanbul Zorlu Performing Arts Center (PSM).

Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater will appear on the festival’s stage for the first time with two gala concerts.

As the opening show, the Ankara State Opera and Ballet will stage “Turandot” opera on July 2 and 3.

Staged by famous Italian guest director Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini, the leading role in “Turandot” opera will be performed by Korean soloist Lilla Lee on July 2 and Kazakh soloist Zhupar Gabdullina on July 3.

The “Troy” epic opera, a big production created by the State Opera and Ballet General and Art Director and tenor Murat Karahan that will bring together opera and ballet, will be on the stage on July 6 and 7.

Accompanied by the famous poet Yunus Emre’s verses, Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s “Yunus Emre Oratorio,” which is the first oratorio in the Turkish language, will be staged by the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet on July 10.

The performance will also be a tribute to Yunus Emre, who had a strong influence on Turkish, on the 779th year of his birth.

The libretto of the performance, which brings together orchestra, choir and dancers on the same stage, was written by Uğur Seyrek, who also choreographed it, and Işık Noyan.

The “Bolshoi Soloists Gala Concert” to be performed by the Boslshoi Theater soloists on July 13 and 14 will be a magnificent visual feast with a rich repertoire for the closing of the festival.

Soprano Anna Nechaeva, mezzo-soprano Yulia Mazurova, tenor Fyodor Ataskevich and baritone Pavel Yankovsky of the Bolshoi Theater will perform arias and duets from the best-known operas in the world.

“The Barber of Seville,” “Il Trovatore, Carmen,” “La Forza del Destino,” “Samson and Dalila,” “Manon Lescaut,” “Don Carlo,” “Don Giovanni,” “The Tales of Hoffman,” “Turandot” and “La Traviata” are among the operas to be performed in the Bolshoi concerts.