"Posters for next month’s İstanbul International Opera Festival have been gracing billboards across the city since the beginning of this week. The city’s historic venues -- including Yıldız Palace, Topkapı Palace, the Rumeli Fortress and the Aya İrini Museum -- will be home to 18 opera performances from July 1 to 21 for the second edition of the İstanbul Opera Festival, launched last year as part of the city’s tenure in 2010 as a European Capital of Culture. In one of the festival’s much-talked about posters, model/actress Sedef Avcı is seen getting in a cab at the gate of the Yıldız Palace while in another, actor Yetkin Dikinciler, as Sultan Mehmet II, converses with young people in Tophane. Another poster shows baritone Kenan Dağaşan in the role of Sultan Murat IV as he points to a target for the riot police in Beyoğlu’s Tünel quarter. Other posters depict singer/actress Zuhal Olcay as she poses for a street artist in Salacak, and actor Selçuk Yöntem captured by paparazzi as he exits the Adile Sultan Palace with a young woman next to him. The festival’s posters feature scenes from present-day İstanbul, everyday people, characters from opera pieces and celebrities. Yekta Kara, the artistic director of the İstanbul Opera Festival and chief director of the State Opera and Ballet General Directorate (DOBGM), tells us why.
Q: What’s the story behind these colorful, lively and different posters?
A: People are in a constant rush, it’s difficult to catch their attention. That’s why we used diverse elements together in the posters. There are four elements: the opera characters, the city of İstanbul, the people and celebrities. Eight artists posed for the posters and the photographs were taken by Mehmet Turgut."
Read the full interview by clicking here. See all of the ads and a schedule of performances for the festival after the jump.
July:
1 Maometto Secondo at the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre
2-3 Sultan Murat IV. at the Topkapı Palace
4 Tosca at the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre
6-7 Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Rumeli Castle
8-12 Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Yıldız Palace
13 Gala Concert “Elina GARANCA” at the St.Irene
15-17 For Biden Love at the Yıldız Palace
18-20 Zaide at the Topkapı Palace
21 L’İtaliana in Algeria at the Sütlüce Convention Center