What’s on at Paris Opera Ballet This Season

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What’s on at Paris Opera Ballet This Season

As the months turn colder and the days grow shorter, there are few things more delightful and mood-boosting than going to see the Paris Opera Ballet perform at Palais Garnier. The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest national ballet in the world, and is full of incredible dancers

Whether you’re in Paris for a holiday visit, business trip, or solo getaway dream trip to Paris, your time in the City of Light will be enhanced by taking in a ballet performance with the locals. While The Nutcracker is always a wintery favorite, there’s so much more in store for ballet lovers visiting Paris in the coming months. Read on to learn about what’s ahead for this season at the ballet.

Getting to Palais Garnier

The home of the Paris Opera Ballet is Palais Garnier, and the ballet also performs at Opéra Bastille. The Palais Garnier is located at Place de l’Opéra (9th arrondissement). The easier way to get there is usually métro or by foot if you’re staying in the neighborhood or in nearby arrondissements.

Lines 3, 7, and 8 are all found at the Opéra métro station. The following Paris bus lines will also get you to Palais Garnier: Bus 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15, N16. (We don’t recommend driving in Paris, particularly since the the city center is now designated a traffic-restricted zone, but if you’re coming by car, you can reserve a parking spot in the nearby parking lot, Q-Park Edouard VII -Haussmann, 16 Rue Bruno Coquatrix.)

The grand staircase of the Palais Garnier. Image credit: Benh LIEU SONG/ Wikipedia Commons

Mayerling 

Mayerling appears at Palais Garnier from October 29, 2024, to November 16, 2024. The name Mayerling is the name of a hunting lodge where Rudolph, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was found deceased in 1889. He took his own life in front of his mistress. This mysterious and intriguing ballet tells this historical story via dance and was created by Kenneth MacMillan.

Mayerling was added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2022 and was first performed in 1978 in London. The protagonist, Rudoph, struggles with dark demons, like addiction and thoughts of self-harm. The score for this ballet is composed by Franz Liszt, and the choreography highlights neo-classical ballet style. One of the best parts of this ballet are the gorgeous and detailed historical costumes which are lavish and of-the-era. 

Paquita (at Opéra Bastille)

Running from December 5, 2024, to January 4, 2025, are performances of Paquita. This two-hour-long performance tells the story of the titular character, Paquita, who is, according to the Paris Opera’s description, a “young gypsy girl who refuses the advances of an aristocrat, Lucien d’Hervilly, because of her modest condition.” Paquita lives in the Valley of the Bulls, near Saragossa which is occupied by Napoleon’s men.  The protagonist saves her suitor, Lucien, from plan led by the governor of Spain. Later, she discovers that she has origins of nobility, and her status in society is not so low as she once believed. 

Dancer and choreographer Pierre Lacotte, who passed away in 2023, was the creator of this iteration of the ballet Paquita. The Joseph Miller-created Paquita was reworked in 2001 by Lacotte, who brought this magical and romantic story to life. The ballet, set in a picturesque Spain and full of exquisite ballet technique and character work, came to life thanks to Lacotte. 

Lacotte once said, “When I recreate a ballet, I search for the fragrance of the period.” He was known for reconstructing famous romantic ballets whose choreography had been long forgotten or ill-preserved. 

Paris Opera Ballet School Demonstrations

Paquita reconstructor Pierre Lacotte was, in fact, an alum of the Paris Opera Ballet School, the feeder school for the Paris Opera Ballet company. And this season, there’s the exciting opportunity, from December 15 to December 22, 2024, to see demonstrations by students at the Paris Opera Ballet School.

These ballet students are among the best of the best in the world, and many of them will go on to lead prominent professional dance careers. Catch these rising stars at the school demonstrations, and you’ll likely be seeing some of them onstage at Palais Garnier in several years’ time. Élisabeth Platel directs the demonstrations.

Onegin

Running at Palais Garnier from February 8 to March 4, 2025, you’ll find the Paris Opera Ballet performing Onegin. It’s a ballet inspired by the verse novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, and it’s a seminal work of Russian literature. Russia is known for its high caliber of ballet output, as well as its ballet history, so it makes sense that a Russian story would be featured onstage at Palais Garnier. This ballet features five main characters, including Onegin and others like Tatiana and the poet Lenski.

It was first performed in 1965, and in 2009, the work became part of Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire. Onegin’s choreography is presented in virtuoso neo-classic style and this beautiful work will leave you on the edge of your seat wanting more.  

Lead photo credit : "Mayerling" in rehearsal, Dorothee Gilbert, Hugo Marchand. Photo credit: Maria-Helena Buckley

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Anne McCarthy is a contributing writer to BBC News, Teen Vogue, The Telegraph, Dance Magazine, and more. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Westminster and is the Editor in Chief of Fat Tire Tours’ travel blog. She lives in New York City.