Tuesday, September 25, 2018 Izmir Metropolitan Municipality broke the grounds of “Opera Izmir”, which is selected following the “National Architecture Contest” and will set an example in Europe with its architecture and technical features, and the ceremony received broad participation.

Izmir State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, conducted by the Conductor Tolia Gagliardo, offered an unforgettable musical experience to the residents of Izmir at the groundbreaking ceremony. 

Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu spoke at the ceremony and said: “This is the first and only project designed as an opera house in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Paris Opera House was built in 1875, Vienna Opera House in 1869, Milano Opera House in 1778 and Budapest Opera House in 1884. And, today, we are building the first opera house of Turkey here”.

Aytül Büyüksaraç, the Director of Izmir State Opera and Ballet, described the groundbreaking ceremony of Opera Izmir as a “36-year dream come true”. “Today, this is a dream for us. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is breaking the grounds of the Opera House that is a design selected following a contest and that will be one of the few examples in Europe. This building will make history as the first building of the Republic of Turkey that is built uniquely for opera. We would like to thank everyone who worked on this project. Almost everything is taken care of and planned in this building. It only needs time. We sincerely hope that it will be a short period of time. It has everything that a contemporary building must have. I would like to thank you a thousand times, on behalf of the artists” said Ms. Büyüksaraç.

The construction tender opened for the Opera House of Izmir is awarded to Çağdan Müh. Müt.San.ve Tic. A.Ş. & Waagner-Biro Austria Stage Systems AG Consortium. Waagner-Biro, a partner of the Consortium, is a 163-year old construction firm based in Vienna and worked constructions of opera and theater houses in cities such as Sydney, Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Copenhagen, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Rio, Seoul and Shanghai.  

Building Features
The project of the opera house was selected in 2010 through the National Architecture Project Contest; the Opera house has one big hall and stage for 1435 audiences and one small for 437 audiences as well as rehearsal halls, yard-open performance zone for 350 audiences, workshops and storages, main service units, administrative units, general facilities, technical center and parking garage for 525 vehicles. The facility has a construction site of approximately 73 thousand 800 m2.

The foyer section of the building is designed as a social area open all day with a bookstore, opera house gift shop, bistro and box office. The road in front of the foyer will be designed as a parking area, public transportation stop, and car and taxi turn-out lanes. There will be two entrances from the yard overlooking the sea and from the avenue. Cloakroom, elevators and wide stairs leading the main foyer follow the ticket check points. The main foyer is designed as a structure where the plane coming from the sea rises and becomes a part of the building. Due to the altitude of the building, the distance between the building and sea will disappear visually and this section will have a view of the bay. There is a tramline interchange at the Opera House.    

There will be a production area at the back of the stage and the area will be without stairs to the extent allowed by the depth of land. The offices, workshops, work and rehearsal rooms will be places around the yard. This section with multiple entrances will have inner atriums and the personnel will have the chance of socializing with each other.