I spent an
extremely interesting weekend in Istanbul by getting to know its historical
sites. But a weekend in a foreign city would, of course, not have been complete
without a visit to a local opera. Turkish National Opera (and Ballet) have two
scenes in Istanbul: Atatürk Cultural Center in the European side and a smaller
house Süreyya Opera House in the Asian side, in Kadiköy. I visited Süreyya,
which was built in 1927, but was taken over by the National Opera only in 2007
after extensive restauration works. The trip from my hotel in the old town (in
Sultanahmet) to the opera was longish, but absolute worth the effort: first a
trip to the ferry terminal in Eminönü, then across the Bosphorus to Kadiköy and
a nice walk to the opera.
The Opera
House itself looks a lot like its European models. The interior has some art
deco features and the main hall is decorated with frescos. Even though the
seats are – fittingly – red velvet, they are actually very comfortable and
there is plenty of legroom, so the restauration was really well done.
The
performance I saw was Jacques Offenbach’s La belle Hélène (The Beautiful
Helen), an opéra bouffe (or operetta), which tells the story of Paris and Helen
of Troy before the Trojan wars. The opera was performed in Turkish with Turkish
texts, but fortunately I had anticipated the possibility and got acquainted with
the libretto before my trip, so that I grasped the story rather well, even if I
did not understand the spoken parts. The director had possibly made some
adaptations to the story, since the original score definitely did not contain “Are
you lonesome tonight” that Paris was singing for a bit in this version.
The setting
of the piece was simple: a divan and some steps together with occasional chairs
and a table. The costumes were colourful and partly bling (Helen’s dresses were
covered with sequins). I think they both suited the production very well.
Offenbach’s
music is very beautiful and I would have loved to hear more of it than this
piece had to offer. The same goes actually to the performance of the best
singers. The singer of the main
character, Helen of Troy (Hande Soner Ûrben) was breathtaking and I wish she
had had more to sing. Also Cenk Biyik in the role of her husband Ménélas and Alper
Göceri in the role of Agamemnon made a great impression on me. It seems that Turkey
has plenty of great opera singers! I can honestly recommend anybody visiting
Turkey to get tickets to the local operas, too (Turkish State Opera and Ballet
has opera houses in six different cities).
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| Süreyya Opera House |
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| The hall |
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| The performers |
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