Turkish State Opera and Ballet

In 1840, Gaetano Donizetti's Belisario became the first opera to be translated into Turkish, and was performed at the newly built theatre by Italian architect Bosco.

An important public opera performance was Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani, staged by an Italian company in Beyoğlu in 1846.

Under Atatürk's personal guidance, many talented young people were sent to Europe for professional training, who, upon their return during the 1930s, became teachers of music and performing arts at the newly established Musiki Muallim Mektebi in Ankara (opened in 1924) and Darülelhan in Istanbul.

The first Turkish opera, Özsoy, composed by Ahmet Adnan Saygun to a libretto by Münir Hayri Egeli, premiered in 1934, singers included Semiha Berksoy.

On May 16, 1940, the State Conservatory was firmly established under law, comprising music, opera, ballet, and theatre schools.

During the same period, a ballet school was established in Istanbul with prima ballerina Ninette de Valois, who appointed Molly Lake and Travis Kemp to run it.