Turandot

Turandot by Puccini, Ankara Opera, 16-March 2019

On 16th March 2018 Saturday evening we had the opportunity to watch Turandot opera of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) in Ankara opera house. It was Puccini's last opera which was premiered in Milan LaScala opera house in 1926.

Opera libretto was based on Carlo Gozzi's fairytale play of 1762. Numerous renewal edits have been made. There's a strong fiction in libretto.

A cruel cold Princess, a foreign prince in love, difficult questions, answers, the brutal end in the case of incorrect answering.

We have a poor house maid who sacrificed herself for love.

Turandot character was given life by soprano Mehlika Karadeniz Bilgin on the premier night.

Prince Caraf character was played by tenor (and DOB GM) Murat Karahan. Murat Karahan sung "Nassun Dorma", at the beginning of the third act. It was amazing. Melody followed us till the end of the opera.

The soprano Tuğba Mankal was the extraordinary housemaid Piu.

L'Imperatore Altoum (Cem Akyüz), Timur (Şafak Power), Ping (Çetin Kıranbay), Pong (Arda Doğan), Pang Veysel Barış Yanç), Un Mandarino (Umt Kosman), Il Pricipino di Persia (Serkan Sarıkaya) were important characters on stage.

Decor design (Ozgur Usta), costumes (Savaş Camgöz) were very nice.

Italian Stage Director Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini had many years of experience. Our great orchestra conductor Antonio Pirolli directed the orchestra superbly.

The Opera house was full, the balconies were full, each side was full of standing viewers. The work was over, we all applauded the artists. We had a wonderful night.

Turandot is also on the Berlin DeutscheOper stage as well as in Sydney and Beijing opera houses in this season.

On 20-25 -Mart nights, opera will be repeated in Ankara Opera house. No tickets left for these nights. Do not wait for the internet to find tickets in the next plays. Go directly to the box office early in the morning. Internet sales are made in an hour after the box office opening, there is not much space left, it is sold within 15 minutes.

Ankara 17-March 2019

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Haluk Direskeneli is a 1973 graduate from Middle East Technical University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Since his graduation, he has been mainly involved in thermal / thermal design, manufacturing, marketing, bidding, sales and He has worked as a consultant for domestic market, engineering companies, investors and universities on thermal power plant design software. He is a member of MMO and METU Alumni Association Energy Commissions.

Magic Flute

Die Zauberflote, (magic flute) Mozart, StaatsOper Berlin

Mozart finished his last opera  "magic flute",  in 1791. It was a unique opera masterpiece in  German-Austrian music culture"
We took our seats at the StaatsOper Berlin opera at 19:00 on Sunday, March 3, 2019. The opera was about a beautiful love story in two acts,  until today always came out in front of the audience with the classic staging. This time we are faced with a different staging by American stage director Yuvan Sharon. There are characters in puppets on stage. They're moving  with visible ropes through the ceiling. They're walking in three-dimensional space. There are inspirations from the  Budist (Japanese) performing. One of the main male characters is being cast by a theater actor, whereas another opera singer singing in the background. The opera is in German.
Mexican Woman Conductor, was Alondra de la Parra.
Permanent conductor Daniel Barenbaum, for some reason, gave up the orchestra at the last minute, and the next conductor had to have an emergency operation from his knee. They finally found the new Mexican woman conductor Alondra de la Parra.
The new conductor showed a wonderful work who clearly dominated the orchestra.
The choir was located behind the orchestra pit below, we heard the voices throughout the play, we did not see themselves.
When the first act was over, we heard a "boo" sound from the top third balcony. He was protesting and he disliked the staging. It was his freedom of expression and expressed his reaction. We didn't see him in the second act, he just left.
For those who don't like the new staging of the opera, the opera management kept the old classical staging in their repertoire.
Three weeks after the new staging, they will perform the old classical staging.
The first construction of the StaatsOper building was completed in 1745. It saw fire in 1820 and was renovated. It was rebuilt in the 1920s. It was damaged in the war in 1944, rebuilt in 1955 after the WW2 and worked as an opera house in East Germany. The wall was refurbished again after the wall was demolished. The three floor balcony has a wonderful acoustics. Especially the view from the top of the upper balconies and the sound acoustics are very nice.
There was a public conference in the great hall before the opera.
Then there was refreshments in the lounge. There was an intermittent refreshments again, everyone took a glass of beverage and put a conversation between themselves.
We watched surprisingly different staging. Today Your writer scanned the internet, a large number of German newspapers have critics about this opera.
The New York Times, LA Times and the Financial Times have commented separately.
They explained this different three-dimensional new interpretation.
In the last scene, children played the puppets. Your writer liked this modern new interpretation. When the stage of the opera was finished, all the audience all standing together in the applause.
In December 1918, Mustafa Kemal Pasha stayed at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin.
He probably saw an opera performance in the StaatsOper building at a walking distance of 200-300 meters, perhaps he had the chance to see Mozart's "magic flute" opera in the same environment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/arts/music/magic-flute-berlin.html

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-yuval-sharon-magic-flute-20190305-story.html

Berlin, 4-March 2019

Berlin Philarmonic

Berlin Philarmoniker concert, 7-March 2019

We looked at the internet ticket. There was no seat avaiable in the 2440-seat capacity  hall. Every seat was sold. We went to the concert hall the day before the concert. We asked for a ticket at the box office if any return possibility. Standard tickets were all sold, but the choir seats behind the orchestra was on sale. In concerts with no choir voice, these choir seats were sold at the box office. We purchased our tickets.

On 7-March Thursday, we left house at 18:00, via public transport u8-s1 line we reached to Berlin Potsdamer platz. We walked to the concert hall. We put our coats in the cloak. We visited the music store in the foyer. There was ample possibility to choose a very large cd collection.

The doors were opened at 19:30, and we chose our place in the choir seats behind the orchestra. It's like a place with an orchestra. There were almost 1 to 2 meters between you and the artists who perform percussion instruments. We're behind the orchestra, but the conductor was looking at us. The orchestra was in the middle.

The building was constructed between 1960-1963 with a modern architectural design. There was a classical symphony building in the same place. It was destroyed in WW2 bombardment in 1944.

Composer Schoenberg in a conversation as a joke, the Violin Concerto was a new type of music "fiddle with 6 fingers". It was Dedicated to Anton von Webern. It was one of the first great compositions after Schoenberg immigrated to the United States. It was characterized  not only by its difficult technique, but also complex intertwined, intense composition and brightness. Patricia Kopatchinskaja, bare-foot, adorable charming violonist of this program, played this piece in an unusual and very refreshing way.

In the second part, Orchestra Conductor Kirill Petrenko programmed Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The conductor just didn't played as if he lived his work as though his gestures and movements. The work was premiered for the first time in 1889, and then it was forgotten.

The Kapellmeister of Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Philharmonic concerts in Berlin Arthur Arthur Nikisch have again played the symphony. In London, Leipzig, Berlin and Moscow, they performed with great success, become in symphonic repertoire. It became known as ”the master of art” and ”the wizard of the orchestra“. Today, Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, with Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, and Beethoven's Eroica have become one of the most loved symphonies in the world.

We have long applauded standing at the end of the concert. Then doors were opened, we took our coats from the cloakroom. The modern design of the building was easy to empty the hall.  There was a parking lot underneath the building, the ones who came with their cars parked there. Most of us walked to the s-bahn station in Potsdamer platz to reach our homes.

Berlin 8-March 2019

Berlin StaatsOper

Die Zauberflote, (magic flute) Mozart, StaatsOper Berlin

Mozart finished his last opera  "magic flute",  in 1791. It was a unique opera masterpiece in  German-Austrian music culture for many years.
We took our seats at the StaatsOper Berlin opera at 19:00 on Sunday, March 3, 2019. The opera was about a beautiful love story in two acts,  until today always came out in front of the audience with the classic staging. This time we are faced with a different staging by American stage director Yuvan Sharon. There are characters in puppets on stage. They're moving  with visible ropes through the ceiling. They're walking in three-dimensional space. There are inspirations from the Japanese performing. One of the main male characters is being cast by a theater actor, whereas another opera singer singing in the background. The opera is in German.
Mexican Woman Conductor, was Alondra de la Parra.
Permanent conductor Daniel Barenbaum, for some reason, gave up the orchestra at the last minute, and the next chief had to have an emergency operation from his knee.
They finally found the new Mexican woman conductor Alondra de la Parra.
The conductor showed a wonderful work who dominated the orchestra.
The choir was located behind the orchestra pit below, we hear the voices throughout the play, we did not see themselves.
When the first act was over, we heard a "boo" sound from the top third balcony. He was protesting and he disliked the staging. It was his freedom of expression and expressed his reaction. We didn't see him in the second act, he just left.
For those who don't like the new staging of the opera, the opera management kept the old classical staging in their repertoire.
Three weeks after the new staging, they will perform the old classical staging.
The first construction of the StaatsOper building was completed in 1745. It saw fire in 1820 and was renovated. It was rebuilt in the 1920s. It was damaged in the war in 1944, rebuilt in 1955 after the WW2 and worked as an opera house in East Germany. The wall was refurbished again after the wall was demolished. The three floor balcony has a wonderful acoustics. Especially the view from the top of the upper balconies and the sound acoustics are very nice.
There was a public conference in the great hall before the opera.
Then there was refreshments in the lounge. There was an intermittent refreshments again, everyone took a glass of beverage and put a conversation between themselves.
We watched surprisingly different staging. Today Your writer scanned the internet, a large number of German newspapers have critical about this opera.
The New York Times and the Financial Times have commented separately.
They explained this different three-dimensional new interpretation.
In the last scene, children played the puppets. Your writer liked this modern new interpretation. When the stage of the opera was finished, all the audience all standing together in the applause.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha In December 1918, he stayed at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin. He probably saw an opera performance in the StaatsOper building at a distance of 200-300 meters, perhaps he had the chance to see Mozart's "magic flute" opera in the same environment.

Berlin, 4-March 2019