TURKISH CONDUCTOR TO GIVE CONCERT

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/ Turkish opera singers and a pianist have visited Mongolia for concerts at the Opera and Ballet Theatre and the State Philharmonic Hall with Mongolian counterparts, performing well-known operatic arias as well as Turkish and Mongolian works.
The Turkish International Cooperation Agency also helped to upgrade the two rehearsal halls at the Mongolian opera house for last year's 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Mongolian State Symphonic Orchestra.
In the spring of 2009, a documentary film about the Turkish philosopher Mevlana was shown in Mongolia over a week, when the film's producer and a noted Turkish actor also offered several workshops and lectures in Ulaanbaatar.
Now the Turkish Embassy has brought Turkey's pre-eminent conductor of the Turkish Symphonic Orchestra, Cem Mansur, to conduct the Mongolian Symphony Orchestra and the Mongolian Opera and Ballet Theatre singers in a concert featuring operatic pieces by Verdi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Offenbach in a gala evening on May 6.
Mr Mansur will also conduct the orchestra in the State Philharmonic Hall to mark Tchaikovsky's 170th birthday. Both concerts will also include pieces from Turkish national operas.
Cem Mansur trained in London and also studied in Los Angeles with Leonard Bernstein. He was a conductor of the Istanbul State Opera 1981-1989, and has conducted prestigious orchestras all over the world, including Europe, South Africa, Russia and Mexico.
In 1989-1996, he was principal conductor of the City of Oxford Orchestra and is founding musical director of the Turkish National Youth Orchestra.
B.Khuder