2019 New Year Classical Music Concerts in Ankara

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The biggest New Year and Christmas Eve celebrations for the Ankara audience is to attend CSO, Bilkent Symphony and Opera concerts.

This year, Bilkent Symphony tickets were released over the internet months ago, and they were all sold. We had a beautiful program, scheduled on 26-27 December, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Conductor Ferenc Gabor, Soprano Burcu Uyar, Waltzes, Polkas, Songs, J. Strauss II, A. Dvorak, B. Smetana, J. Brahms, J. Offenbach, F. Lehar

We went to Bilkent concert hall on 26-December Wednesday night with -7C outside temperature. The parking lot was not fully cleaned. The road was clear, but the road and parking lot edges were full of snow. We went early, we parked our car in a secluded location. There were those who didn’t come because of the cold weather. Some of the seats were empty.

The viewers without tickets found empty seats easily. The conductor showed average performance. Soprano had not warmed her voice up enough at first, then her voice was turned on. In the program, there were no repeat, no bis, no surprises. Orchestra played short music in a row. We clapped, the concert’s over.

CSO (Presidential Philharmonic Orchestra) new year concert tickets went on sale 10 days ago, tickets were sold on the same day. Concert days were 26-27-28 December, Wednesday- Thursday – Friday

Argentine charismatic conductor Tulio Gagliardo Vargas and Soprano Mehlika Karadeniz, lyric Tenor Aydın Uştuk moved the program.

The program included Strauss, Dvorak, Leoncavallo, Bizet, Lehar, Lara, Webber, Kalman, Sorozabal, Khachaturyan, Mancini, Capua, Lehar. On 27- December night, Argentinian conductor declared that “Turkey’s best philharmonic orchestra is CSO”, I fully agree. We should not miss Thursday and Friday evening concerts in the new year.

In Talatpaşa boulevard and in underground tunnel, there is ongoing infrastructure renovation. The road on the CSO side drops to one lane. There are pits on the road. We parked the car in the opposite parking lot of the opera, it was more practical and easy. The weather was still very cold, there were empty seat, and those without ticket found seats easy. It’s been a lot of fun that night, we’re very pleased.

Opera tickets were also cold out. New Years concerts were on 28-29 December, Friday – Saturday nights. We went to the 29th December night concert. The weather was very cold. We went early. We have left our car in the rear parking lot. The building has been renovated. Interior items have not yet been replaced. When we went to the building, the heating radiators had just been burned, we sat in the lobby with our coats. The interior was warmed up over time, the balcony was very hot.

Great Conductor Antonio Pirolli led the great orchestra. Soloists Murat Karahan, Feryal Turkoglu, Eralp Kiyici, Ezgi Karakaya, sang the program. In the first part we listened to short arias of opera. In the second part, songs, tangos, unforgettable works of Turkish music were presented. Audience sang together with the soloists. It was a very enjoyable unforgettable year-end concert.

Somel Trio Jazz music program was scheduled on the night of December 25 in the Ankara Erimtan Museum. Mozart House Christmas and new year programs are available. Capella concert was given in MEB Shura Concert Hall. There was Alegria concert at the Ankara University Morphology Hall on the 25th of December.

There are concert programs at Hacettepe Conservatory, Başkent and other Ankara universities.

Izmir Elhamra, Istanbul Sureyya – Samsun-Antalya-Mersin operas have new year classical music programs. Eskişehir-Bursa concert programs can be found in social media, also in Borusan, İş Sanat, Zorlu PSM, CRR concert programs. There is a new year concert at Sabancı University.

If you can’t find a concert ticket, you can wait at the main gate of the concert hall and grab the return ticket, for not much money. In fact, they don’t turn down the ones that come to the door at cold night , they let you in at the last minute, you can watch them on the side corridor.

Another option is sitting in front of the TV at home, watching the BBC British Royal Albert Hall, USA Chicago, Germany Berlin-Munich, Austria Vienna. It is an easy alternative for you to watch the Viennese operas or other new year concert programs.

The New Years concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be broadcast on BBC TV as well as in TRT HABER TV channel on 1 January 2019 at 1300.

The Berlin Philharmonic performed in the days of 29-30-31 December under the direction of world famous conductor Daniel Barenboim.

Prague and Paris classical music concerts will be on TV broadcasts on New Year’s concerts. You will be able to watch them all over the internet.

Haluk Direskeneli

Haluk Direskeneli, is a graduate of METU Mechanical Engineering department (1973). He worked in public, private enterprises, USA Turkish JV companies (B&W, CSWI, AEP, Entergy), in fabrication, basic and detail design, marketing, sales and project management of thermal power plants. He is currently working as freelance consultant/ energy analyst with thermal power plants basic/ detail design software expertise for private engineering companies, investors, universities and research institutions. He is a member of Chamber of Turkish Mechanical Engineers Energy Working Group.

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