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The 33rd International Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival will bring opera, ballet and large-scale stage productions to Antalya's Aspendos Ancient Theater from Sept. 12 to 26, with six performances built around four major works.
Organized by the General Directorate of State Opera and Ballet under Türkiye's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this year's program will include one opera, two ballets and one scenic cantata, a vocal composition performed with theatrical elements.
Artists from Kazakhstan's Abay Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theater will also join the festival, while all performances are scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m local time.
The festival will open on Sept. 12 with Giuseppe Verdi's three-act opera "Attila," staged by Antalya State Opera and Ballet.
The production will take up themes of power, loyalty, revenge and belonging through the story of Hun ruler Attila and Odabella. Directed for the stage by Yigit Gunsoy, the opera will feature Safak Guc as Attila, Bilge Yilmaz as Odabella, Burak Pektas as Foresto and Serhat Konukman as Ezio.
The Antalya State Opera and Ballet Orchestra will perform under Lorenzo Castriota, while Mahir Seyrek will lead the company's chorus.
The program will then turn to literature on Sept. 15 with a ballet adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." Choreographed by Young Soon Hue, the neo-classical production will follow Anna's tragic story as it unfolds around love, loyalty, passion and jealousy.
One of the festival's largest productions will be Carl Orff's scenic cantata "Carmina Burana," which will be performed on Sept. 19 and 21.
Staged by Volkan Ersoy for Antalya State Opera and Ballet, the production will bring together an orchestra, soloists, chorus, children's chorus, ballet dancers and modern dance ensembles.
With around 250 performers taking part, the work will combine its prominent choral passages and rhythms with choreographed storytelling on the Aspendos stage.
The festival will wrap up on Sept. 25 and 26 with "Spartacus," performed by Kazakhstan's Abay Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theater, which was established in 1934.
Set to music by Aram Khachaturian, with a libretto by Nikolai Volkov and choreography by Zaurbek Raybayev, the ballet follows the gladiator Spartacus and his struggle for freedom against the Roman Empire.
Tickets will be available through the websites of the State Opera and Ballet and Biletinial, as well as ticket offices at the Hasim Iscan Cultural Center, the Aspendos Ancient Theater and the Side Ancient Theater Tourism Information Office.
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