Ankara Opera House
Encyclopedia
Turkish State Opera and Ballet
The State Opera and Ballet is the national directorate of opera and ballet companies of Turkey, with venues in Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Antalya and Samsun...
is the largest of the three venues for opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the other two being Leyla Gencer Sahnesi in Ostim and Operet Sahnesi (Operetta Theater) in Sıhhiye.
The building was originally designed by the Turkish architect Şevki Balmumcu
Sevki Balmumcu
Şevki Balmumcu was a Turkish architect who designed the Ankara Opera House.-External links:*...
as an exhibition center, who came first in an international competition for the project in 1933. It was later converted into an opera house by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
architect Paul Bonatz
Paul Bonatz
Paul Bonatz was a German architect, member of the Stuttgart School and professor at the technical university in that city during part of World War II and from 1954 until his death....
, and started serving this function on April 2, 1948.
The same building also serves as a theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
venue for the Turkish State Theatres
Turkish State Theatres
The Turkish State Theatres is the official directorate of the national theatre companies in Turkey. It is bound to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and financed by the state to promote performed arts and enhance the public interest they receive...
under the name Büyük Tiyatro. The construction of a new main opera house for Ankara, in the vicinity of the original and of considerably larger capacity, is underway since 2005.