Some Enchanted Evening...

A magical evening. A small group of us (friends, colleagues) crossed the Bosphorus to the Asian side of Istanbul this evening, to the Sureyya Opera House (a completely charming, tiny - seats 550 - theatre) in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul where we attended a performance of "The Sorrows of Young Werther" - Goethe's story transformed into a two act ballet, performed by the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet. Lovely delicate set and costumes - very reminiscent of a Fragonard painting - and danced to the music of Chopin, which was played by Azerbaijani pianist Yelena Sekalyova who gave such a profoundly beautiful performance that sometimes I was so enraptured that I forgot to look at the stage. When the whole ballet finished with a beautifully executed and rather poignant Pas de Deux danced to the drama and angst of Chopin's G minor Ballade, well, I was totally done for and cried all the way home. Exhausted.

I am sorry it is such an awful photograph, but I didn't even think about it until I was leaving - when at the exit I turned round by which time the nice red velvet gold trimmed curtains were already pulled back and crew were manhandling set and piano out of the way. I didn't even get the view in focus :( oh well, sometimes you just have to go with what you got :))