The Balık Sisters are an opera act composed of Turkish

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

sisters Didem Balık and Sinem Balık (born May 21, 1974). Didem is a

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

while Sinem is a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

. The sisters, who claim to be the only identical twin opera singers performing professionally, are also known by the nickname "the Opera twins." Since 2000, Didem and Sinem have been living and performing in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Early life

Born in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, Didem is five minutes older than Sinem. They have three younger brothers. The twin's study of music began when they were only four years old, before they could read and write. Their music teacher taught them

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

with the help of colors; they remembered that red denoted C, blue D, yellow E, lilac F, and so on. At age of nine, the Balıks left piano playing and dedicated themselves to singing.Newspaper ''Milliyet'' September 25, 2006
The twins were educated in the State Conservatory of

Dokuz Eylül University Dokuz Eylül University () (DEÜ) is a Public university, public research university in İzmir, Turkey. Founded in 1982, it is organized into 18 faculties. It holds the distinction of being the first university in Turkey to implement the probl ...

in İzmir, and then attended the master classes of Lia Lantieri (1998),

Katia Ricciarelli Katiuscia Maria Stella "Katia" Ricciarelli (; born 16 January 1946) is an Italian soprano and actress. Early life and career Born in Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, Ricciarelli struggled during her younger years. She studied at the Be ...

(2000), Dolora Zajick (2000–2003) and

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

(2003–2004). Their teachers were Tanju Nebol, Toma Popescu and Francisco Gutierrez. They continued their education in Prayner Conservatory of

between 2001 and 2003.

Career

Following the graduation from the conservatory in İzmir, they won the audition at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and started singing there. In 1999, the twins entered an audition at the

Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival The Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival (in Turkish: ''Aspendos Uluslararası Opera ve Bale Festivali'') has been organized in Aspendos, near Antalya, Turkey by the Turkish State Opera and Ballet directorate since 1994 with internati ...

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, where they were discovered by Toma Popescu, an expert lecturer in singing at the

Vienna Music Academy The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university established in 1817 located in Vienna. With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of t ...

. After their further education in Vienna, Didem and Sinem gave several concerts in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and also in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Balık sisters wore traditional Turkish clothing

kaftan A kaftan or caftan (; , ; , ; ) is a variant of the robe or tunic. Originating in Asia, it has been worn by a number of cultures around the world for thousands of years. In Russian usage, ''kaftan'' instead refers to a style of men's long suit ...

at their appearances with

Turkish music The roots of traditional music in Turkey span across centuries to a time when the Seljuk Turks migrated to Anatolia and Persia in the 11th century and contains elements of both Turkic and pre-Turkic influences. Much of its modern popular music ...

. In addition to

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s, the sisters sing

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

Broadway musicals Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

, French melodies, Italian Neapolitans and

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er. In 2001, the sisters were finalists at the "4th International de Vivo Voix Competition". The sisters performed concerts throughout the world, including; New York, Washington DC, Antalya, Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Galaz and performed at very special venues like Vienna City Hall, United Nations, Hoffburg Palace, Turkish Embassy in Vienna, Düsseldorf Parliament Building, European Parliament and Startmore Music Center. They performed in front of many VIP guests such as Turkish and Austrian Presidents, King of Benin, European MPs, princes and princesses. They have been invited to make guest appearances to many important international festivals. Plácido Domingo said of them “they are perfect for the sister role in Cosi Fan Tutte of Mozart, I see no reason for them not to have a universal career”. After listening to them at a concert in New York, Ahmet Ertegün, the founder of Atlantic Records, suggested that everybody should hear the OperTwins sing and that he was smitten by them. They studied repertoire, technique and interpretation with the famous American Mezzo Soprano Dolora Zajick who said that "Opera is one of the highest forms of art and deserves the best best quality artists, and the OperaTwins definitely have this potential".

References

External links

The twins' website

The twins' @ R&G Eventvermittlung
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balik sisters 1974 births Dokuz Eylül University alumni Identical twin females Living people Musicians from İzmir 21st-century Turkish women opera singers Turkish identical twins Twin musical duos Female musical duos Turkish expatriates in Austria