Beyond the Obvious
A night with the city symphony or the City Theatres
A municipal orchestra and a theatre company that fill their halls all season — Eskişehir's culture-city reputation, earned on stage.
Not yet checked by the Smileys team — prices and hours may have moved.
Why do it?
Eskişehir calls itself a culture city, and its metropolitan municipality backs that with its own symphony orchestra and its own theatre company. In 2025 the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra gave 38 symphonic concerts to more than 43,000 listeners, plus jazz and chamber nights, and the City Theatres staged 25 productions over 257 performances for more than 72,000 people, and ran their international children's, youth and puppet theatre festival in May. Both are paid for by the city rather than the state, which is a large part of why a town of students has the cultural calendar of a much bigger place.
The Smileys Take
Make it a monthly group ritual: a concert, then a drink by the river. The symphony is the easy one for newcomers — no language needed — and the opera-and-operetta nights are the friendliest way into classical music we know. The City Theatres play in Turkish, so pick a comedy or a musical if your Turkish is new, and go with a member who can explain the jokes at the interval. Popular nights can sell out, and programmes, prices, venues and ticketing are on the municipality's website — check which hall your ticket is for before you set off.
Do it with people
Nothing is scheduled around this in Eskişehir yet. When a host plans it, it shows here — the calendar and hangouts are the places to look meanwhile.
More like this
There's always more Eskişehir.