By \u0130rem Naz Duymu\u015f (AMER\/IV) & Eda Emeko\u011flu (AMER\/IV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nazduymus@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
eda.emekoglu@ug.bilkent.edu.tr<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My growing affection for Italy and the Italian language has found another place to settle: the opera. Watching Mozart\u2019s \u201cThe Marriage of Figaro,\u201d or \u201cLe nozze di Figaro,\u201d has given me one more reason to keep falling in love with the sound of Italian\u2014and a good excuse to spend an evening at the theater. My recommendation? Arrive an hour early, order a nice espresso from the opera house caf\u00e9 and settle into a genuine conversation with a friend before the performance. Coffee, conversation and opera: your own little Italian evening in Ankara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, the opera follows Figaro and Susanna as their wedding plans become entangled in the desires and schemes of Count Almaviva\u2019s household. What should be a celebration quickly becomes a complicated negotiation of love, jealousy and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, the characters were one of the production\u2019s strongest elements. The costumes were good overall, though the set design truly stood out. It was the visual highlight of the evening, alongside the pleasure of watching these personalities share the stage. Humour ran throughout the performance; I lost count of how many times we laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beneath that humour, the opera invites a feminist reading. Susanna and the countess challenge the count\u2019s authority through their intelligence and cooperation, turning the household into a space of struggle over power, desire and control. Their actions call traditional gender roles into question: who is expected to obey, who assumes the right to decide and what happens when women challenge those expectations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would warmly recommend this production to anyone who loves opera.
But why stop at one evening? If Figaro has put you in the mood for more music, here are a few dates to keep in mind in Ankara this October:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf October 17, 8 p.m. \u2014 \u201cBeethoven & Dvo\u0159\u00e1k,\u201d Bilkent Concert Hall. Violinist Viktoria Mullova joins conductor Tito Ceccherini and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven\u2019s Violin Concerto and Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s \u201cFrom the New World\u201d Symphony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf October 24, 8 p.m. \u2014 \u201cThe Firebird,\u201d Bilkent Concert Hall. With flutist Emily Beynon and conductor Tito Ceccherini, the program includes Stravinsky\u2019s \u201cFirebird Suite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a change of tempo, AYDEED, who studied at Bilkent, will perform at Holly Stone Performance Hall Ankara on October 17 at 9 p.m. With Kalben, Sufle and Motive also performing in Ankara this month, October offers plenty of opportunities to find a concert that suits your taste\u2014or try something outside your usual playlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those who would rather spend an evening at the cinema, \u201cVerity\u201d has arrived on the big screen. Adapted from Colleen Hoover\u2019s novel and starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett, the psychological thriller follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer hired to finish the work of bestselling author Verity Crawford. I have come across comparisons between the book and its screen adaptation, and although I have yet to read the novel or watch the film, I am curious about both. What would you recommend: book or movie first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
October\u2019s calendar seems full of possibilities. Pick something that suits your mood\u2014and perhaps Ankara\u2019s autumn weather\u2014and make an evening of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And a final question for those who have been further afield: did anyone make it to Munich for Oktoberfest this year? Seeing so many friends\u2019 Instagram stories made me wish I could have joined them. If you went, I would love to hear about your experience. What stayed with you\u2014the music, the atmosphere, the food or something else that you did not expect?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By \u0130rem Naz Duymu\u015f (AMER\/IV) & Eda Emeko\u011flu (AMER\/IV) nazduymus@ug.bilkent.edu.treda.emekoglu@ug.bilkent.edu.tr My growing affection for Italy and the Italian language has found another place to settle: the opera. Watching Mozart\u2019s \u201cThe Marriage of Figaro,\u201d or \u201cLe nozze di Figaro,\u201d has given me one more reason to keep falling in love with[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[230,82,224],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11532,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531\/revisions\/11532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}