Discover on screen the lyrical and choreographic masterpieces of the Paris National Opera. Operas from the 2014-2015 season of the Paris National Opera will be screened in the brand new Theatre of Alliance française de Toronto.

Alongside Balanchine’s Palais de Cristal, set to music by Bizet, Benjamin Millepied adapts Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. Philippe Jordan will be accompanying the Paris Opera Ballet for the first time.

This encounter between two great French composers and two choreographers from the New York City Ballet, its founder George Balanchine and former student Benjamin Millepied, highlights the similarities and dissonances between them. In 1947, George Balanchine paid tribute to the company and to the French tradition with his first production for the Paris Opera Ballet, Le Palais de Cristal, in which he choreographed an early work by Georges Bizet, the Symphony in C. Characterized by its architectural design and sense of dialogue with the music, this ballet is a model of academic virtuosity, to which Christian Lacroix, an artisan of light and color, has brought new shape. Benjamin Millepied’s third creation for the Paris Opera Ballet, in collaboration with the conceptual artist Daniel Buren, revisits the myth of Daphnis and Chloé. In the tradition of Balanchine, Millepied draws his inspiration from the rhythms and colors of Ravel’s “choreographic symphony” for chorus and orchestra. Accompanying the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet for the first time, Philippe Jordan conducts these masterpieces of French music.

LE PALAIS DE CRISTAL

Music (Symphony in C major): Georges Bizet

Choreography: Georges Balanchine (Opéra national de Paris, 1947)

Costumes: Christian Lacroix

DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ – CREATION

Music (unabridged version): Maurice Ravel

Choreography: Benjamin Millepied

Sets: Daniel Buren

Lighting: Madjid Hakimi

Étoiles, Premiers Danseurs and Corps de Ballet

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Conductor: Philippe Jordan

Chorus master: Alessandro Di Stefano

Presented by Brigitte Lefèvre, Director of Dance at the Paris Opera

Production: François Goetghebeur

Running time: 2h includes one 20 min interval