New York City Ballet in Paris

The New York City Ballet performs in Paris after an eight year absence. The production revolves around three great French composers who inspired NYCB founder George Balanchine: Charles Gounod, Maurice Ravel and Georges Bizet. The four ballets performed encapsulate Balanchine’s genius and his very own neo-classical style, they also provide a particular insight on the bonds that tied Balanchine to France. What is known today as Walpurgisnacht Ballet was a ballet choreographed for the opera Faust at the Paris Opera in 1975, it premiered as an independent piece in New York in 1980. Sonatine set to a music by Maurice Ravel, was created by two New York City Ballet’s French principals, the recently departed Violette Verdy and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux. La Valse was originally composed by Ravel for the Ballets Russes and Serge Diaghilev, then exiled in France, shortly before Balanchine entered the company. Symphony in C better known as Le Palais de Cristal, premiered at the Paris Opera.