Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Turkey's state opera and ballet is a single national institution with companies in several cities, and the Istanbul company is among the busiest of them. Its orchestra serves both halves of that title, which makes for a season running from Verdi and Puccini through the Tchaikovsky ballets to works written by Turkish composers for the company itself. For decades its home was the Atatürk Cultural Centre on Taksim Square; the old building was taken down and replaced, and the company returned to a new house on the same site in 2021. Each season the company also mounts the International Istanbul Opera and Ballet Festival, whose gala concerts bring visiting singers and conductors to the city.