Act I

Act II

Giselle (season 21/22) - Mathieu Ganio (Albrecht)

2122-133_GISELLE_Jean CORALLI Jules PERROT_ Mathieu Ganio (Albrecht) (c) Agathe Poupeney OnP

Interview with Mathieu Ganio

2122-197_GISELLE_Jean CORALLI Jules PERROT_D. Gilbert (Giselle) Hugo Marchand (Albrecht)

Giselle (season 21/22) - Dorothée Gilbert (Giselle) and Hugo Marchand (Albrecht)

2122-197_GISELLE_Jean CORALLI Jules PERROT_D. Gilbert (Giselle) Hugo Marchand (Albrecht)(c) Agathe Poupeney OnP

Interview with Dorothée Gilbert, Cédric Cortès et Monique Loudières

Ganio

Parcous d'étoile - Mathieu Ganio

The ultimate romantic ballet, Giselle marked the apogee of a new aesthetic that saw diaphanous tutus, white gauze, tulle and tarlatan take over the stage. The Willis bring the illusion of immateriality to this ghostly transfiguration of a tragedy.First performed at the Académie royale de Musique on June 28, 1841, the ballet travelled to Russia, then temporarily disappeared from the repertoire before finally returning to France in 1910. Today’s version by Patrice Bart and Eugene Polyakov – which closely follows Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot’s original choreography – continues to reaffirm the ballet’s early success.Bright, earthly scenes and spectral, nocturnal visions: dance becomes the language of the soul and the ballerina’s ethereal presence seems to defy gravity. <hr>The Étoiles, the Premiers Danseurs and the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet The Pasdeloup OrchestraA coproduction Opéra national de Paris, François Roussillon et Associés With the participation of France Télévisions and TF1, the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual retransmissions of the Opéra National de Paris and the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée.Director: François Roussillon © Opéra national de Paris – François Roussillon et Associés -2020Picture: © Svetlana Loboff / OnP

<ul><li>Giselle: A young peasant girl. She falls in love with Loys, who turns out to be Duke Albrecht. Consumed by madness, she dies of a broken heart at the end of Act I.</li><li>Albrecht: Duke of Silesia. Already betrothed to Princess Bathilde, he seduces Giselle during the harvest season.</li><li>Myrtha: Queen of the Wilis, spirits of young maidens who have died before their wedding day. At night, they lure men into a deadly dance.</li><li>Hilarion: The village gamekeeper who is in love with Giselle. He reveals Albrecht’s true identity then dies, punished by the Wilis.</li></ul>

Giselle

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Performance at the Palais Garnier, from 02 May to 01 June 2024

The ultimate romantic ballet, Giselle marked the apogee of a new aesthetic that saw diaphanous tutus, white gauze, tulle and tarlatan take over the stage. The Willis bring the illusion of immateriality to this ghostly transfiguration of a tragedy.  F

Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot

The son of an Alsatian composer and pianist, himself piano teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, Adolphe Charles Adam was born on July 24, 1803. He defied his father and started to study music in secret. He then entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1817 and became a pupil of François-Adrien Boieldieu, who quickly directed him to comic opera, a genre that was undergoing a major transformation at the time. In 1825, he won the Prix de Rome’s second prize. In 1834, Adam had one of his greatest popular successes with Le Chalet, an opera comic which has since been considered the starting point of French operetta and which influenced Offenbach in his early years. Above all, his successful, lively and brilliant “operas bouffes”, such as Le Postillon de Longjumeau in 1836, made him famous. In 1840, he composed a funeral march for the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I and the burial in Hôtel des Invalides. From 1847 to 1848, he tried to found his own theater house, the Opéra‑National, but the experience failed and left him financially ruined. He worked as music critic and taught composition at the Conservatoire, where Léo Delibes was his student. After the success of Giselle (1841), he composed the score of several ballets: La Jolie fille de Gand for Albert Decombe (1842), Le Diable à quatre (1845), Griseldis ou les cinq sens (1848) and Le Corsaire (1856) for Joseph Mazilier, as well as La Filleule des fées for Jules Perrot (1849).

1995 :&nbsp;Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.

2000 :&nbsp;Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.

2002 :&nbsp;Promoted to "Coryphée".

2003 :&nbsp;Promoted to "Sujet". Receives the AROP Dance Prize.

2004 :&nbsp;Receives the Prix du Cercle Carpeaux.

2005 :&nbsp;Promoted to "Première danseuse".2006 :&nbsp;Receives the Leonide Massine award (Positano/Italie) and the Ballet 2000 award (Cannes).

2022 :&nbsp;Receives the le Best choreographic performer award from the Syndicat professionnel de la Critique Théâtre, Musique et Danse.

Dorothée Gilbert is made an&nbsp;"Étoile" on November 19th 2007, following a performance of The Nutcracker (Nureyev) in which she dances the role of Clara for the first time.

As part of the Paris Opera Ballet's official tours, Dorothée Gilbert has performed in Australia (Brisbane), the United States (San Francisco, Los Angeles), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasilia), China (Beijing, Shanghai), Russia (Moscow, Novosibirsk), Japan and elsewhere. (Tokyo), Spain (Madrid) and the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi).Dorothée Gilbert was named Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Gilbert Dorothée

1992 - 1999 : He trains at the École Nationale Supérieure de danse in Marseille, where Roland Petit chooses him for his version of The Nutcracker.1999 : Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.2001 : Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.2003 : Promoted to "Coryphée". 2004 : Promoted to "Sujet".

2005 : Prix Benois de la Danse (Moscou)Mathieu Ganio is made an "Étoile" on May 20th 2004, following the performance of the ballet Don Quichotte (Rudolf Noureev) in which he danced the role of Basilio.As part of the Paris Opera Ballet's official tours, Mathieu Ganio has performed in Switzerland (Geneva, 2009), Japan (Tokyo 2010, 2013 and 2020/ Nagoya, 2013), Australia (Sydney, 2012), the United States (Chicago/ Washington/ New York, 2012), and Malaysia. (Singapore, 2012), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, 2019). 

Mathieu Ganio was named Officier des Arts et Lettres.

Ganio Mathieu

1998 : Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.2006 : Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.2010 : Promoted to « Coryphée ».2011 : Promoted to « Sujet ».2013 : Promoted to « Première danseuse ».Valentine Colasante is made an "Étoile" on January 5th 2018, following the performance of Don Quixote (Rudolf Nureyev), a ballet in which she performed the role of Kitri.As part of the Paris Opera Ballet’s official tours, she has performed in Australia (Sydney, 2007), China (Beijing, 2008), Russia (Novosibirsk, 2010), Malaysia (Singapore, 2011), the United States (New York, 2017) and Spain (Madrid, 2019).

Valentine Colasante

Main roles: The Song of the Earth (John Neumeier, 2015), L’Elu / Le Sacre du printemps, L’Oiseau de feu (Béjart), Hilarion / Giselle (after Coralli and Perrot), Lenski / Onéguine (Cranko), Jean / Mademoiselle Julie (Birgit Cullberg), Un Homme / La Maison de Bernarda (Ek), Pas./parts, In the Middle Somewhat elevated (Forsythe), Iñigo / Paquita (Lacotte after Mazilier and Petipa), Études (Harald Lander), Incitatus / Caligula (Le Riche), Lescaut / L’Histoire de Manon (Kenneth MacMillan), Genus (McGregor), Mahler’s Third Symphony (Neumeier), La Danse Espagnole / Swan Lake, one of the four Princes / The Sleeping Beauty, Espada / Don Quichotte, la Danse indienne and l’Esclave / La Bayadère (Nureyev), Morel / Proust ou les intermittences du cœur, Escamillo / Carmen, the title role of Le Loup (Petit), Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins).

1994 Enters the Ballet School.2000 Joins the Corps de ballet, at age 18.2006 He is named "Coryphée".2007 He is named "Sujet".2008 Prix Carpeaux.2013  He is named "Premier danseur".

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2002: Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.

2005: Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.

2011: Promoted to "Coryphée".

2012: Promoted to "Sujet".

GANIO_Marine-05

2010 Médaille d’Or et bourse du Concours international Civitanova Danza Per Domani. Entre à l’École de Danse de la Scala de Milan.2012 Entre à l’École de Danse de l’Opéra national de Paris.2015 Est engagé dans le Corps de Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris.2017 Promu « Coryphée ».2018 Promu « Sujet ». Médaille de Bronze (catégorie Sénior) du XXVIIIème Concours international de danse de Varna (Bulgarie) Prix du Cercle Carpeaux.2020 Promu « Premier danseur ».

MURA_Francesco-100

2000: Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.2005: Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.2008: Promoted to "Coryphée".2009: AROP Dance award.2013: Promoted to "Sujet".2018-2019: Dances with the Zürich Ballet as a soloist as part of a sabbatical year.

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Jean Coralli, of Italian origin (Bologna), was born in Paris in 1779. After graduating from the Ecole de Danse de l'Opéra, he made his debut as a dancer in 1802. He then left Paris for London. He had already begun choreographing at the Vienna Opera (Paul et Rozette, 1800), but returned and remained there until 1806, producing Les Abencérages, Le Calif généreux, Les Incas, and Hélène et Pâris. Then, in Milan, Jean Coralli and his second wife Teresa formed the star couple at La Scala, performing Salvatore Vigano's masterpieces. Between 1815 and 1822, Coralli divided his time as ballet master between Milan, Lisbon and Marseille. In 1825, he took over from Frédéric-Auguste Blache at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. He was in charge of the entertainment for some fifteen shows, and his dancers included Joseph Mazilier and Jules Perrot.In 1831, the new head of the Opéra, Dr Véron, invited Jean Coralli to work for the Royal Academy of Music: He choreographed L'Orgie (1831), La Tempête ou l'île des génies (1834), Le Diable boîteux (1836) for Fanny Elssler, La Chatte métamorphosée en femme (1837), La Tarentule (1839), Giselle in collaboration - with Jules Perrot (1841), La Péri (1843) for Carlotta Grisi.Most of these ballets were successes that were regularly revived and remounted by the great ballet companies. Arthur Saint-Léon described his style as ‘essentially French, that is to say refined, delicate and poetic’.&nbsp;He had many pupils, including his son Eugène, who became a renowned mime. He retired in 1848 and died in Paris in 1854 at the age of 75.

Jules Perrot was born in Lyon in 1810. Hired by the Théâtre de la Gaité (Paris), he studied with Vestris and then danced at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin. He joined the Paris Opera Ballet from 1830 to 1835, where he danced with Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler and Fanny Cerrito.&nbsp;He went to Naples where he met Carlotta Grisi, who became her student and dance partner. They performed together until their breaking-up in 1842. He staged for her Giselle in 1841 at the Paris Opera, among other ballets all inspired by the Romantic Movement.&nbsp;Perrot led a successful international career. He was ballet master at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, at the Scala de Milan and at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg.&nbsp;Back in France in 1861, he gave classes at the Paris Opera. Edgar Degas immortalized him in his painting The Dance class in 1876. Jules Perrot died in 1892.&nbsp;

Hired in the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet in 1959, Patrice Bart was nominated Étoile in 1972, after his first solo as the Prince in Swan Lake (Bourmeister’s version). He danced the greatest roles of the repertoire, from Petrouchka to Sleeping Beauty’s Prince, Don Quixote, the Fils prodigue… He took part in the creations of Serge Lifar (Constellations, 1969), Roland Petit (Mouvances, 1976), MacMillan (Métaboles, 1978), and Nureyev (Rothbart in Swan Lake, 1984). He won the Nijinsky Prize (Université de la Danse) in 1974. An accomplished technical dancer (pas de six in Napoli or La Vivandière), a brilliant partner (from The Corsaire to Palais de cristal), an excellent actor (Coppélia and La Fille mal gardée), Patrice Bart is also keen on performing character roles, such as the grandfather in Nureyev’s Nutcracker. He worked first as repetiteur from 1986, then as ballet master, from 1987, before his farewells to the stage in 1989. Very involved in the artistic organization of the Company, he took with Eugène Polyakov the transitional Dance Direction after Rudolf Nureyev’s departure in November 1989. From 1990 to 2011, he was associated to the Dance Direction. In 1991 he revived with Eugène Polyakov the classic version of Giselle for the 150th anniversary of its creation, and in 1992 he assisted Nureyev on La Bayadère’s creation. Himself a choreographer, he staged Don Quixote in 1993 for the Berlin Staatsoper, and then in 1995 for the Finnish National Ballet; Giselle in 2000 (1996 for La Scala de Milan), Swan Lake (1997), Verdiana, set in 1999 to some opera music by Verdi (2001 for the Teatro Comunale di Firenze), The Nutcracker (1999), Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (2002). He created for the Paris Opera Coppélia (1996), La Petite Danseuse de Degas (2003), and for the Munich Bayerische Oper La Bayadère in 1997 (version in 4 acts) and for the Finnish National Ballet Tchaikovsky (2005). Patrice Bart is Commander of the Arts and Letters, of the National Order of Merit and Knight of the Legion of Honour.

Eugène Polyakov joined, at 10, the School of Bolshoi and became soloist in the Novosibirsk Dance Company (Siberia). He began at an early stage of his career setting choreographies: Variations on a Theme by Purcell (Benjamin Britten), Songs without words (Mendelssohn). In 1970 he put an end to his dance career but came back to the Bolshoi as a teacher. In 1976, he left Russia to settle in Italy. He became ballet master at Le Fenice, in Venice, where he created Francescada Rimini, and his own version of the Spirit of the Rose. He also revived Giselle for Elisabetta Terabust, Rudolf Nureyev, Cyril Atanassoff and Patrice Bart. In 1977 and 1978, he founded the company “Viva la Danza” and toured in Italy. In 1978, he was appointed Dance Director at the Teatro Comunale in Florence. Between 1978 and 1983 he staged: The Fairy’s Kiss, Nightingale (Stravinsky), Themes and Variations (Tchaikovsky), Rideau Réversible (Stravinski/Petrassi), Andante Pomeridiano (Richard Strauss), The Favourite (Donizetti), Computer Valse (Grossi), Goldberg Suite (Grieg/Bach). Eugène Polyakov also worked with the Balletto di Toscana, creating for them Correspondences (based on Baudelaire’s work), Grand cru, Sinthonic (Pergolèse), Five pieces instead of silence (Schumann), Les parcours d’une promenade (Philip Glass). In 1983, he was invited by Rudolf Nureyev as ballet master at the Paris Opera. In 1985, he took part in the creation of the “Ballet du Louvre” as the Artistic Director, where he revived Giselle. In 1992, he left the Paris Opera to take the direction of the Teatro Comunale Ballet (Florence). There, he mounted his own versions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and created The Lady with the Camellias, Cinderella, La Folie (Coralli), and La Ronde (music by Matteo d’Amico). He also revived some of Nureyev’s choreographies (Raymonda, Don Quixote) at the Stockholm Opera, the Berlin Staatsoper and the Scala de Milan. He came back to the Paris Opera in January 1996 as a ballet master. He died in Paris on October, 25 1996.

Born in Saint Petersburg in 1870, Alexandre Benois was a painter, illustrator, set designer, librettist, director and art historian who played a decisive role in the creation of the Ballets Russes and in the company's aesthetic direction. He is credited with seeking greater cohesion between the various elements of the show, by advocating close collaboration between the musician, choreographer and set designer. Before working for the Ballets Russes, Benois already had a wealth of experience. From a family of French origin and with a father who was an architect at the Imperial Court, he was involved in international artistic life from an early age.As a student, he lived in Paris for two years (1904-1906) and discovered Art Nouveau, which he championed on his return to Russia in the magazine Mir Iskousstva (The World of Art), which he founded with Diaghilev and Bakst in 1899. He had already designed sets for the Hermitage Theatre (Le Crépuscule des Dieux) and the Théâtre Marie (projet d'une Sylvia, 1901) in Saint Petersburg, and played an active part in the exhibition of Russian art that Diaghilev presented in Paris in 1906. For the first season of the Ballets Russes at the Châtelet in 1909, he designed the sets and costumes for Pavillon d'Armide, Le Festin and Les Sylphides.The following year, he revived Giselle, and with Petrushka (1911) found the opportunity to combine realism with poetic wonder. In 1914, he rewrote the libretto of Le Coq d'or and directed Stravinsky's opera Le Rossignol. Benois returned to Russia, where he worked for Stanislavski's Art Theatre, before returning to France and working for Ida Rubinstein: Les Noces de Psyché et de l'Amour, La Bien-Aimée, Boléro, Le Baiser de la Fée (1928), La Valse (1929), Amphion (1931), Semiramis, Diane de Poitiers (1934). For the Paris Opera, he designed the sets and costumes for Giselle in 1924 (with Olga Spessivtseva) and Le Coq d'or in 1927. He also created the sets and costumes for Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1932), Le Bal des Cadets, The Nutcracker (1940) and Raymonda (1946) for the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo, and for Le Moulin Enchanté (1949) for the Marquis de Cuevas' company. He died in Paris in 1960.

Creatives

Cast

Extras

Interview with Mathieu Ganio

Interview with Dorothée Gilbert, Cédric Cortès et Monique Loudières

Parcous d'étoile - Mathieu Ganio

Performance at the Palais Garnier, from 02 May to 01 June 2024

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The characters

The acts

Creatives

Interview with Mathieu Ganio

Interview with Dorothée Gilbert, Cédric Cortès et Monique Loudières

Parcous d'étoile - Mathieu Ganio

Performance at the Palais Garnier, from 02 May to 01 June 2024