site.btaSofia Opera and Ballet Performs Tosca in Istanbul

More than 2,000 people in Istanbul applauded a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca staged by the Sofia Opera and Ballet at the Ataturk Cultural Centre on Saturday.

The performance was part of Sofia Opera and Ballet's gala tour mottoed "Bulgaria Congratulates Turkiye: Happy Centenary of the Republic!".

The two countries’ national anthems sounded before the performance. At the end of the show, the capacity audience gave a standing ovation, called the actors for an encore, and showered them with thunderous applause.

Among the guests at the gala performance was Turkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who had stated in a written message that he "wholeheartedly congratulates the team of the Sofia Opera and Ballet, who made the production a reality".

Attending were also business representatives, such as Turkiye - Bulgaria Business Council at DEIK Chair Zeki Saribekir, Bulgarian Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry Governing Board Chair Burhan Nemutlu, members of the Bulgarian community led by Dimitar Yotef, representatives of the Bulgarian expat associations, prominent social and cultural figures of the metropolis, and the Consul General of Bulgaria in Istanbul, Vassil Valchev, among others.

Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Turkiye Angel Cholakov greeted the guests and said that the choice of this opera has to do with the personality of the founder of the Turkish Republic, "the great statesman, visionary, reformer and friend of Bulgaria, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was also an admirer of the opera". During his tenure as military attache in Sofia between 1913 and 1915, Ataturk was actively involved in the cultural life in the Bulgarian capital and was an avid visitor of the performances of the Bulgarian Operatic Society.

Cholakov noted that the performances of the Sofia Opera and Ballet in Ankara and Istanbul "are in a way an emotional, spiritual and symbolic journey back in time, walking in the footsteps of Ataturk during his Sofia period".

The Bulgarian Ambassador added that the tour is held under the auspices of the first ladies of Bulgaria and Turkiye, Desislava Radeva and Emine Erdogan, both countries’ ministries of culture, the Sofia Opera and Ballet and the Ankara State Opera and Ballet.

The performances are charitable and the proceeds will go to the areas in Turkiye affected by the devastating earthquakes in February this year.