SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Mustafa Erdogan,  Mevlana Oratorio:  Ankara State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Concert Master: Tayfun Bozok, 11.1.2008 (BM)

I must confess to feeling just a tad disappointed at first when I realized the only thing on the program at Ankara Opera during my brief visit to the Turkish capital was going to be a Turkish oratorio, especially after having seen the lavish Aida this company put on at Aspendos the previous summer (read about it HERE). But I was soon to realize how silly that was, since in the end I saw a performance one would seldom have a chance to attend outside of Turkey.

2007 marked the 800^th anniversary of the birth of the great Sufi philosopher Mevlana Rumi (with UNESCO declaring an official “Year of Mevlana”), who to this day remains among the most popular poets world-wide, his teachings evoking a rapturous voyage into infinite love. Mevlana advocated boundless tolerance, affirmative reasoning, kindness, charity and perception through love, thus addressing all peoples, regardless of their faith or ethnic origin. He believed that all religions were more or less true, and his death was the first and only time in history that Muslims, Jews and Christians quarreled over the honor of carrying a great man to his grave.

Mustafa Erdogan’s Mevlana Oratorio is a work that succeeds in presenting Turkish themes and rhythms within a classical Western form - the oratorio for orchestra, chorus and four soloists. All the same, it didn’t quite seem to really take off at first, the evening beginning with much fiddling with music stands which hadn’t been adjusted properly in advance. What's more, it seemed bizarre that in Turkey, home of the traditional ney flute, the ney theme in the introduction should be played from a tape and not live. Nonetheless, an initial mood of sheer melancholy was soon dispelled by the soloists, and though one had the feeling that the work could have done with a bit more variety – a duet or an ensemble number as opposed to a sequence of two solos for each of the four singers – the music developed an ever more haunting quality as the oratorio unfolded. All of the soloists gave fine performances, although soprano Sule Köken sounded just a tiny bit harsh at times, with fervent singing from mezzo soprano Ferda Yetiser and bass Sabri Karabudak, proving that a voice need not qualify as “big” to be persuasive (assuming that the texts we were hearing were about the ideal of infinite love described above). However, the most exciting moments of the evening occurred during the second solo with chorus by Murat Karahan, his graceful tenor conveying a haunting poignancy so intense it felt almost unbearable. This alone made the trip to Ankara worthwhile, and I wager it would be nearly impossible for non-Turkish artists to perform this piece. In these times of religious strife one can only wish that its message could be spread all over the world.

Still, I wonder how the future of opera in Turkey will be developing in general in the near future. Istanbul Opera and Ankara Opera both had very competent and committed Italian artistic directors, Fabrizio Ventura and Dario Lucantoni, both of whom resigned last year citing utterly untenable circumstances – such as being excluded from significant decisions pertaining to artistic programming - making it impossible for them to do their jobs properly. Links  to Seen and Heard articles about their work in Turkey can be found at the end of this review.)

This must have been a great loss for both companies involved, and it will be interesting to see how it will effect artistic planning and performance in coming seasons. For now, Istanbul’s current artistic director, acclaimed Turkish composer Selman Ada, has announced that he intends to curtail spending on the popular annual summer festival in Aspendos on the Mediterranean coast (saying in an interview with the Turkish English-language daily “The New Anatolian” that it caters to tourists such as “butchers and hairdressers” from northern Europe rather than domestic audiences), and to stage all classical opera repertoire in Turkish….not exactly most people’s idea of an up-to-date creative approach, and hardly “politically correct” (opera is only for university graduates?). Having said that, Turkey is a fascinating country and it will be intriguing to see what happens there next.

Bettina Mara

Picture © Ankara Opera

The Turkish State Opera and Ballet Web Site (in English)  is Here

Article Links :

Opera Is Booming in Turkey

The 13th Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival

An Italian Conductor in Ankara

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