A few weeks ago, a friend from the Turkish Ministry of Culture offered me an invitation to a performance of "Carmen," the famous four-act opera by the French composer Georges Bizet, at the Ankara State Opera (Ankara DOB). When I examined the casting, I politely declined. "Carmen" is a mezzo-soprano role. Yet in all three casts the singers – though they describe themselves as mezzos – were in fact lyric sopranos. I could scarcely believe it. Those responsible for these artistic choices were, in effect, publicly declaring the lamentable condition into which our opera, which I have observed for years and even chronicled in a novel, has fallen. A distinguished European opera artist attending this performance would have laughed. It would be recounted as a joke in European opera houses. It is like setting out along snowbound mountain roads in a passenger car and breaking down halfway. To cast a lyric soprano in a mezzo role is sheer negligence in operatic terms – it means being stranded on the road.
At a time when only a handful of conservatory graduates in Türkiye are truly capable of doing justice to operatic stage direction, the Ankara DOB has entrusted the position of chief stage director to a high-school graduate with no conservatory training. Because the majority of politicians or audiences are interested in opera, those who run the institutions have for years subjected this country to an artistic debacle financed by the state. Considering this, the reason why art is treated with such levity in Ankara becomes clear. The audacity of those who reduce a high art to the level of a troupe entertainment must stem from the indifference to opera. When the director of a state stage, in an art form where artistic standards are measured by vocal quality, is a cellist, she is inevitably unfamiliar with vocal technique and incapable of determining which singer is suited to which role. She assigns both works and productions to her former spouse. Turkish opera slips through one’s fingers no matter where one tries to grasp it.
In Türkiye, my beloved country, I am not even sure there exists an orchestra capable of reading – let alone performing – the scores of two major modern composers such as Pierre Boulez or Luigi Nono. There is not only a lack of awareness of what is happening in the world of contemporary classical music; there is a tradition that actively resists such awareness. Just as we do not have orchestras capable of playing these works at the required level, there is no one who even demands that they be performed. Those who currently hold sway in the classical music world in this country are far behind the rest of the world, yet in their profound ignorance, they regard themselves as superior. How did our musicians come to this point? In the Republican era, with figures such as Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Adnan Saygun, Necil Kazım Akses, Mithat Fenmen and Cemal Reşit Rey, Türkiye made a serious entry into the world of classical music. How, then, did our artists fall into their present state? When two conductors who would not be entrusted with a baton in any other country became general directors of the State Opera and Ballet (DOB), the outcome was inevitable. The general directors of the DOB have failed the test of raising our art to an international level. They have established such a system that examinations, competitions, concerts and festivals have turned into games whose results are predetermined from the outset.
Those who run halls such as the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), Cemal Reşit Rey (CRR) Concert Hall and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (CSO) collaborate with the administrators of the opera, granting one another awards and mutual support. While proclaiming themselves ambassadors of art, they refuse even to open their stages to those outside their circle unless they receive political instructions. Hüseyin Sermet – a pianist of international renown – has not been invited back to the AKM since a recital six years ago. In the intervening period, he has received dozens of invitations from countries such as Malaysia, Russia, Mexico and Japan, recorded some of the most demanding works in the repertoire, given intercontinental masterclasses and served on juries alongside world-famous musicians. Yet halls and orchestras such as the AKM and the CSO have closed their doors to him.
Sent abroad on a scholarship for exceptionally gifted children, Sermet spent 55 years in France, performing and training students, yet he was never brought together with the Turkish public. This great piano virtuoso – a source of academic pride for our country – was effectively declared persona non grata by the music community because he openly supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2018 and 2023 elections. Likewise, artists whose political views differ from those of this circle are denied the opportunity to perform in these halls and with these orchestras. Every artist wishes to practice their art and to be visible. Yet in the classical music and opera world of Türkiye, to like and support Erdoğan is punished as an unnamed crime.
The Ministry of Culture must prepare these institutions for a transformation worthy of their stature. The current administrators of opera and classical music should be reviewed. The still-vacant post of general director of the State Opera should be filled by someone capable of breaking this entrenched system – a figure recognized at the highest levels of the art, with an international reputation, a broad vision and a genuine love for the country. If such artists exist in opera, the current administrations render them invisible. They are not cast in productions. The press gives them no space. Their names are never mentioned. The Ministry of Culture must seek them out as if prospecting for precious ore. In the “Century of Türkiye,” we need this if we are to attain the place we deserve in opera and in classical music.
