Simon Boccanegra

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi, in LaScala Milan

Years ago I entered into "Dost CD music store" in Ankara Kızılay . I asked for a record of "Leyla Gencer" opera. The clerk said, "We do not have studio record, we have only one live recording, only one CD, Simon Boccanegra from Giuseppe Verdi. I did not know anything about this opera, an opera that has been composed, played in the past, and then forgotten. It was staged in 1858 for the first time in Venetian opera house, and the work of composer was renewed in 1881, but then the opera was forgotten after a while.

Leyla Gencer sang such forgotten operas. She preferred not to record. La Scala's other Diva, Maria Callas, while performing clean banding at the studio and singing only the most beloved operas, La Scala's another Diva Leyla Gencer voices difficult old forgotten operas and she did not want to record voice recordings. So in the CD I purchased, there background was filled with unwanted voices, cries applause. Leyla Gencer accomplished a very difficult singing for "Simon Boccanegra".

Simon Boccanegra opera took place in the Izmir Alhambra scene in 2009. Eralp Kıyıcı and soprano Ayşe Tekin had wonderful performances.

Simon Boccanegra is a very popular opera nowadays. When the great artist Placido Domingo (75) plays, he gets high credits. The artist plays alternately in New York Metropolitan and Milan LaScala. For this opera, he turned from tenor to baritone voice. Leo Nucci in the character of Simon Boccanegra, Carmen Giannattasio the soprano in the character of Amelia. South Korean chef Myung-Whun Chung was fabulous. Let's not forget the director, Federico Tiezzi. Each chorus member played a separate character. In the huge big scene there were decorations that were in reasonable size, the costumes of the 13th century were great.

In LaScala opera, on 23 - June 2016 Wednesday evening we watched Guiseppe Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" opera on the first balcony. We got our seats at 19:00. The main gates opened at 19:30, we walked in, guided by special ushers with black robes like parliamentary norms, directed us to our seats. Audience was dressed very seriously. The balcony room door was opened with a big old type key. We were seated at the front seats. The orchestra was very big, the acoustics of the place were great. I do not know how 3-hour spent there.

The opera began, suddenly we heard an high volume angry criticism of a female voice from a balcony. In LaScala, the traditional critisizm was made at loud voice immediately by the audience. The conductor who's not performing properly, the singer who has detonation, the bad decorator, the bad costume-maker, and even the director have all taken care of that immediate verbal criticism. The artist who is detonated is immediately protested, his/her opera life is over. We did not understand what it was, but I suppose it was worth to protest.

During intermission, we entered into the foyer, a small space. The opera shop was open for sale, they were selling everything which may come to mind about the opera. There were CDs, DVDs, books, souvenirs, whatever you were looking for. The last EMI record CD Simon Boccanegra was going from € 25 each.

In the LaScala stage, Italian artists taught us, as if "Opera is staged like this, it is played like this, it is presented like this." On the big stage, the ritual of entrance to the hall and the balcony was very different, with a reasonable décor, a wonderful staff, a wonderful acoustics, chorus elements playing in a separate roles. After seeing the LaScala opera, I would have to say that I find unnecessary and erroneous decorations in unnecessary erotic variations in Istanbul, unnecessary decorations that fill the scene in Ankara.

The opera was over, there was no grand parking lot nearby, since opera house was built 200 years ago, all the business men wearing black suits, lovely ladies and we all went to the Duomo Metro station, and were scattered to our houses by the Metro after 23:00.

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Haluk Direskeneli, is a graduate of METU Mechanical Engineering department (1973). He worked in public, private enterprises, USA Turkish JV companies (B&W, CSWI, AEP), in fabrication, basic and detail design, marketing, sales and project management of thermal power plants. He is currently working as freelance consultant/ energy analyst with thermal power plants basic/ detail design software expertise for private engineering companies, investors, universities and research institutions. He is a member of ODTÜ Alumni and Chamber of Turkish Mechanical Engineers Energy Working Group.

This article is released in the "EurasiaReview" news web site.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/haluk-direskeneli/

Prinkipo, 15 May, 2018

La Forza Del Destino

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"La Forza Del Destino" (The Power of Fate)

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi in İzmir Alhambra Opera Theater

The four-act "La Forza Del Destino" (The Power of Fate) opera was composed by Giuseppe Verdi. It was ordered by the Russian Saint Petersburg palace orchestra. Opera premier was performed in 1862 at the Bolshoi Kamenny theater in Saint Petersburg, then in 1877 for the first time in Istanbul and in 1964 in the Ankara State Opera House.

The opera begins in Spain and continues in Italy and ends again in Spain. Leonore, daughter of Calatrava Marquis is in love with Don Alvaro. Alvaro's mother comes from the Inca heritage from the indigenous peoples of South America. Her father is not willing to marry her daughter with Alvaro who is not a pure Spanish person. Leonore is determined to do everything she can to marry Alvaro. While trying to escape, Alvaro accidentally kills Leonora's father. Lovers leave while unaware of each other's lives. Leonora's brother, Don Carlo, calls and seeks illegal lovers to get revenge. In the end, the heroes all die, unhappy end comes. The work was first written in Spanish as a theater work, and then it was transformed into opera by Verdi with a solid dramatic editing. The music is amazingly beautiful. The melodies in the music that we listen to at the beginning are repeated throughout the opera.

Orchestra Conductor is Tulio Gagliardo, Stage Director Evin Atik. Orchestra plays smooth, choir is strong, İzmir orchestra permanent conductor performs wonderfully. The work is put on the classic interpretation scene in İzmir. The decor is reasonable, the costumes are beautiful. However we could not get the meaning of the gun sounds coming from the microphone before the overture in the first act.

The first act starts in Leonora's bedroom.

The second scene is in Spain. Here, the fortune-teller Gypsy girl mezzo soprano Preziosilla has a beautiful song praising the war.

The second act is again in the monastery in Spain.

The third act is in Italy at the war zone. The ruthless face of the war is emerging in the same veil. Preziosilla comes out on the stage again and tries to cheer people up with her songs, while people are poor because of the war, relatives are lost. Meanwhile, the monk, who was there to heal them, says that all the evils that have come to them are due to the sins they committed.

The Fourth Act goes back to the monastery in Spain. People who are trying to take refuge in the church because of hunger. We see absence of mercy and greed of monks and other people who are rude.

Then we see the encounter of Don Carlo and Don Alvaro. Opera ends with the final scene in front of the cave where Leonora was sheltered.

Let's put together some of the main Arias that stand out in the opera and can be found easily on YouTube:

Leonora: 1st Act: Me pellegrina ed orfana,

2nd Act: Sono giunta! .... Madre pietosa vergine

4th Act: Pace, pace mio (Soprano Leyla Gencer is recommended!)

Preziosilla: 2nd Act: Al suon del Tambura

Don Alvaro: 3rd Act: La vita é inferno ..... o tu che in seno agli angeli

Don Carlo: 2nd Act: Son pereda latest ricco d'onore

3rd Act: Morir Tremenda cosa .... Urna fatale del mio Destino

The main roles are alternately performed by, Burçin Savigne, Ayşe Tek, Feryal Türkoğlu, Lorenzo Mok Arranz, Oğuz Çimen, Levent Gündüz, Aydin Uştuk, Nejad Begde, Gökhan Koç, Tamer Peker, Cengiz Sayin, Doğukan Özkan, Tevfik Rhodes, Engin Suna and Murat Duyan , Gökhan Varkan, Ebru Captain, Ayşe Özkan, Ferda Yetiser, Sabri Çapanoğlu, Tankut Eşber, Kaner Sumer, Başak Karataş, Evrim Keskin Özülgen, Christopher Gagliardo, Soner Yıldırım, Barış Yener.

The premier night, on 3rd May, was performed by the artists settled in Izmir. On 5th of May, we observed that the performers from outside Izmir were performing more impressively than the first night. Feryal Türkoğlu, Cengiz Sayın and Engin Suna have a big share when we get this impression. Tenor Aydin Uştuk was spectacular on both nights. The other roles, Preziosilla and Melitone, were performed beautifully on both days.

Giuseppe Verdi wrote this opera work with the order of Tsarist Russia. It was a period in which intolerance in Europe is most brutally practiced when the work was written. Giuseppe Verdi has given support to national- revolutionary works throughout his life. His works have rich melody, solid theatrical fiction, big and glorious orchestra, and powerful chorus music.

From our stage director, we were waiting for an article telling us how she staged in the program book. There were two more available tickets on May 5-May, while there was no buyer, we left it open in ticket box.

İzmir audience do not get tickets at the opera gate. There's always a lot of available tickets at the gate before performance. There is always a last minute ticket purchase in Istanbul and Ankara.

During 2018-2019 season, this opera is in England's "Royal Opera House" program. The main roles are shared by Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann. The opera will be in Munich, Augsburg, Dresden, Paris and Zürich. The staging of the Munich opera has contemporary interpretation with horrors of war introduced.

This magnificent opera takes place on 03 (Premier) - 05 - 12 - 14 May 2018 at the Izmir Alhambra opera house. Opera will be at festivals during the summer season, next season we will see again at Alhambra.

İzmir May 10th, 2018

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Haluk Direskeneli, is a graduate of METU Mechanical Engineering department (1973). He worked in public, private enterprises, USA Turkish JV companies (B&W, CSWI, AEP), in fabrication, basic and detail design, marketing, sales and project management of thermal power plants. He is currently working as freelance consultant/ energy analyst with thermal power plants basic/ detail design software expertise for private engineering companies, investors, universities and research institutions. He is a member of ODTÜ Alumni and Chamber of Turkish Mechanical Engineers Energy Working Group.

https://www.operabale.gov.tr/

This article is written for "EurasiaReview" web page.

Forever First Lady, Michelle Obama

Barrack H. Obama, the former US president, gets 400 thousand US$ for each of his commercial public speaking. His wife former First Lady Michelle Obama gets 200 thousand US$.

Michelle Obama did not get paid for the last talk she made for the students, but in that speech, she called herself "Forever First Lady". Michelle Obama told around 8,000 high school students who were attending the 2018 College signing day at Temple University in Philadelphia.

"I know that you are me, and if I can be standing here as your Forever First Lady, then you can do anything you put your mind to, " she added. This definition she made for herself will be a matter of discussion for a long time.

Former US President Bill Clinton receives 200,000 US$ per speech in the USA. It was reported that he received 600,000 Euros for his latest speech in Sweden. An invited keynote speaker in the USA is paid between 20,000- 40,000 US$.

The numerous "International Energy Conference" are organized in luxury venues in Istanbul, and their announcements come to me in the course of the year. They invite market professionals to speak, often they do not pay any fee to local speakers.

Meanwhile they invite a few foreign speakers. They provide them free accommodation in conference hotels plus paid "business" round- trip airfare.

More they pay 1000-5000-10,000 US$ for the foreign speaker depending on the market. The foreign speaker repeats the same off-the-shelf ppt presentation he has made for audiences in a contemptuous atmosphere, with polished fancy English, perhaps he already has made same presentation tens or maybe hundred times before. "We do this in this way, you do the same," they say.

However in our environment, that is not applicable. It is for sure that our native local speakers are as good as foreigners. They know our local market, our legislation, local practices, our bureaucracy better. They can give much more useful information they know better, but they do not get money for all these valuable information.

The organizer company says, "We'll not give you money, what's your personal advertisement, for your personal promotion to have more business, what else do you need more?". Company advertisers already do keep this promotions in their presentations, and they do not need money anymore, their company sponsors the conference, company pays for speakers expenses.

Authorized senior political authority comes to the conference on the first day, he joins the opening, cuts the ribbon, gets a plaque, then he usually makes a standard speech and he leaves the venue. As for the high level of political authority, it is absolutely expected that other senior bureaucrats should participate in the conference. High-ranking bureaucrats from the same institution always accept the conference invitation. Their public institution pays them per diem for their travel spending. They make an old presentation that has already been passed - all known by you earlier.

The former senior bureaucrats who have just left the ministry, new retirees who are looking for a prestigious post in the private company supervisory boards, they always join the conference if they get an invitation. They hope to find a new job on this events Newly separated elderly professionals from senior staff of large private companies view such meetings as new business opportunities for themselves

The organizer gets 500-1000 US$ per company, participant or listener. They also get other fees from sponsors. We notice that organizers would even try to get money from the speakers. Speakers do not usually pay the conference fee.

Your writer give a standard answer to conference invitations,

"Thank you for your invitation to your conference (fair, congress) for the public speaking on energy issues in our environment, I expect the organizer company to pay my business class return plane ticket, pay my accommodation in conference hotel plus pay a reasonable fee for my presentation."

Does anyone have concur? Sometimes yes, but I do not feel sorry for missing an invitation when they can not pay.

We are told that institutions such as CNN, BBC, and Deutsche Welle pay those specialists who show up in their programs to speak on their specialist field. TV channels pay 100-500 US$ per speech. This figure is also paid for the technical or expert article you write.

If you have made a good comment and you have received nice comments from the audience, then the institution is looking for you for more, then they ask your bank account, they send a reasonable amount of money.

It is difficult for the organizers to monetize and pay local tax in this situation and it is easier for them not to give money. What happens next? Market is filled with people who do not know details.

The invitation to the TV news programs is another case to avoid. The anchor of the program comes out with a ridiculous question every 50 seconds of your talk, you forget what you are telling. It's better not to join the programs.

Professional newspaper columnists are paid 50-250 US$ or more per article. Some journals put their writers into their payroll in order to pay, while asking them to write minimum one article per week, four per month. Newspaper articles have a tax exemption of up to 15 thousand TL (3750$) per year for local columnists. Those who do not get paid for a while so that they advertise their names.

At conferences, you can share audio and video recordings with your friends, In "public speaking", everyone can record- write- and share notes.

In panels we make in the METU Alumni Association conference hall, first we get permission from the speaker for sharing, if not, then we do not let him talk. Private speeches in closed meetings are subject to the rules of "Chatham House", ie the information provided in closed meetings are available but not given reference, the speaker's name is not disclosed.

In my age group, we no longer need personal advertisement, promotion, since we are in this a game, we already are known by players. However participation is a compulsory task when there is an invitation to a conference which would be organized by universities, chambers, professional unions and there can not be a money expectancy in those presentation, all for courtesy.

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Haluk Direskeneli, is a graduate of METU Mechanical Engineering department (1973). He worked in public, private enterprises, USA Turkish JV companies (B&W, CSWI, AEP), in fabrication, basic and detail design, marketing, sales and project management of thermal power plants. He is currently working as freelance consultant/ energy analyst with thermal power plants basic/ detail design software expertise for private engineering companies, investors, universities and research institutions. He is a member of ODTÜ Alumni and Chamber of Turkish Mechanical Engineers Energy Working Group.

This article is released in the "EurasiaReview" news web site.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/haluk-direskeneli/

Prinkipo, 06 May, 2018