Conductor and composer Selman Ada has been appointed as the new General Director and General Art Director of the Turkish State Opera and Ballet in Istanbul. He is succeeding to Rengim Gökmen, who was dismissed from his job because of his remarks against the draft law on the Turkish Art Institution (TÜSAK).
Selman Ada was born in Ceyhan in 1953. In 1965, he went to Paris and studied with Pierre Pasquier, Anette Dieudonné, Christian Manen, Roger Boutry and Elsa Barraine at Paris Supreme Conservatory. He graduated in 1971. In 1973, Ada began working as an assistant and student of general music director, Robert Wagner at the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet. Between 1979 and 1980, Ada worked as general music director at the Ankara State Opera and Ballet. In 1980 he played piano for the tenor, Mario del Monaco until his death. Later, after returning to Paris, Ada served as a professor in the Department of Opera Korrepetitor and Orchestra Conductor, which he founded in Ecole Normale Superieure de Musique.
Ada, who has composed since the age of seven, has given various concerts and recitals in many countries. Among his works, which have been played in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia are the operas ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ and ‘Aşk-ı Memnu’ and the oratorios ‘Mavi Nokta’ and ‘Herakülesalle’.
