Long reputed difficult – if not impossible- to dance, Gustav Mahler’s music has inspired many artists since the 1960s. Kenneth MacMillan, Maurice Béjart, Pina Bausch, Jiří Kylián and Maguy Marin have successfully tackled this challenge. But one name will undoubtedly remain attached to the musician’s: John Neumeier, who explored about ten of Mahler’s works.

Created in 1975 in Hamburg, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 entered the Paris Opera’s repertoire in 2009.

What seems today obvious was, back then, perceived as an audacious, even bold choice, a crazy and disturbing ambition: few were the choreographers, apart from Maurice Béjart with the Symphony No. 9, who dared to create a choreography on symphonic music.

And choosing Mahler’s work, considered to be even harder to apprehend than Beethoven’s, could imply an unusual attraction for complexity. But the result belied the ominous critics, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 was an immediate (and lasting) success.

The Etoiles, the Premiers Danseurs and the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet
The Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine / Chœur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de Paris

A co-production Paris Opera Production and CLC Productions
With the participation of France Télévisions, the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the assistance of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée

Director: Thomas Grimm
© Opéra de Paris Production - CLC Productions 2013

 Picture: © Christian Leiber / OnP