An Opera Etnography from Turkey: Karyağdı Hatun Opera

Opera is an art branch where art of poem, song, dance, decor, costume, painting, architecture, singing and acting meet on the foundation of theatre and music. The most important reason that create opera which is a musical stage work, is the perspective on human developed by the Renaissance idea. Opera art was created in the 16th century and come to our modern-day developing via different points. The books about opera are mostly in relation to historical process of opera. Few studies examined opera’s social, cultural, institutive, economic and political features. Also there are few researches on what the workers in opera house think. How does it feel to be an artist or technical staff, to perform depending upon team and form? Of course answers vary in Italy where opera was born and in Russia where opera was adapted with their style. Opera, existing in Turkish Republic as a creational process for 82 years and institutional context for 67 years, can only be revealed by the thoughts of people who create it. In this study we had interviews in relation to ethnographic research with the staff of artists and technicians in the staging process of Karyağdı Hatun Opera and searched what opera means for them. As a result of the interviews, it is revealed that related opera singers, maestro and coryphaeus and technical team has mostly negative relationships with opera in Turkey because of the fact that personel expectations