Act I

Act II

Act III

Inspired by L’Abbé Prévost’s legendary heroes, Kenneth MacMillan expresses his fascination for lost characters and dramatic subjects. The choreographer stays faithful to the novel’s plot and reconstructs the tragic story of the sensual yet naïve creature who is more victim than demiurge of her own fate.In Regency Paris, bourgeois society gorges itself on luxury and easy pleasures. Swept by this swirl, Manon can’t resist the temptations, dragging down with her her faithful lover Des Grieux.The choreographer structures his ballet on a mosaic of extracts by Massenet, choosing a music that brings drama, freshness and romance necessary to this great dance fresco. The crowd and ball scenes are followed by intimate, lively pas de deux, right up to the ballet’s sublime and tragic end.This recording was made during the farewell to the stage of the Dancer Etoile Aurélie Dupont. The Etoiles, the Premiers Danseurs and the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet The Paris Opera OrchestraA co-production of the Paris Opera, La Belle Télé and Mezzo With the participation of France Télévisions and the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Cédric Klapisch Co-director: Miguel Octave © Opéra national de Paris – La Belle Télé – Mezzo - 2015Visuel : © Anne Deniau / OnP

2014-15-MANON-251  (Dupont & Bollé) (c)Julien Benhamou-OnP

L'Histoire de Manon

Performance at the Palais Garnier, from 19 June to 15 July 2023

Inspired by L’Abbé Prévost’s legendary heroes, Kenneth MacMillan expresses his fascination for lost characters and dramatic subjects. The choreographer stays faithful to the novel’s plot and reconstructs the tragic story of the sensual yet naïve crea

Kenneth MacMillan

Born on 11 December 1929 in Dunfermline, Scotland, Kenneth MacMillan studied dance at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School (now the Royal Ballet) before joining the company in 1946. His career really began when he was recruited by Ninette de Valois for Sadlers' Wells Theatre Ballet. An excellent dancer but suffering from stage fright, MacMillan preferred to turn to choreography. His first ballet, Danses concertantes (1955, entered the repertoire of the Ballet de l'Opéra in 1984), set by Nicholas Georgiadis - soon to be his favourite collaborator - revealed his great creativity. In 1965, his Romeo and Juliet marked a significant evolution in the tradition of grand ballets, an essential element of the Royal Ballet of which he was resident choreographer. MacMillan, deeply affected by Covent Garden's refusal to stage his ballet to Gustav Mahler's Song of the Earth, took over the direction of the West Berlin Opera Ballet. In 1965, his colleague and friend John Cranko, director of the Stuttgart Ballet, asked him to programme the creation of Le Chant de la terre (which entered the Opera Ballet repertoire in 1978), which was a triumph. In 1970, he returned to London to take over the direction of the Royal Ballet. His new creations received a lukewarm reception, including L'Histoire de Manon (1974), which entered the Opera Ballet repertoire in 1990. He resigned in 1977 to devote himself to choreography. Associate Director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, then Artistic Associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 until his death in 1992, he also created Métaboles and remounted Les Quatre Saisons (1978) and Danses concertantes (1984) for the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris. Kenneth MacMillan died on 29 October 1992.

Aurélie Dupont joined the Paris Opera’s Ballet School in 1983. She attended all its classes and participated in performances and official tours.After entering the Paris Opera’s Corps de Ballet in 1989, she was promoted to “Coryphée” in 1991 and “Sujet” in 1992. The same year, she won the Gold Medal (in the junior category) at the Varna International Ballet Competition. She received the Prix AROP (Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris) in 1993 and the Prix du Cercle Carpeaux in 1994. After entering the Company, Aurélie Dupont performed in all the major productions from the classical and the contemporary repertoires. She was also cast in solo roles in Pierre Lacotte’s Giselle and La Sylphide, George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Roland Petit’s world premiere production of Rythme de Valses (1994), Rudolf Nureyev’s La Bayadère, Roland Petit’s Le Loup, Angelin Preljocaj’s Annonciation, Rudolf Nureyev’s The Nutcracker, and Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring (“The Chosen One”).Promoted to “Première Danseuse” in 1996, she danced the principal roles in Soir de fête (Léo Staats), Raymonda, Don Quichotte and La Bayadère – three productions by Rudolf Nureyev, Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) and Casanova in Angelin Preljocaj’s world premiere production at the Paris Opera (1998). At the end of the performance of Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev) - on December 31 1998 – she was made an “Étoile”.Since then, she has added numerous roles and works to her repertoire, including: Capriccio/Rubies, Symphony in C, Violin Concerto, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Le Palais de Cristal ( George Balanchine), Boléro ( Maurice Béjart), Giselle (Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot, as well as the version by Mats Ek), Tatiana in Onegin (John Cranko), Woundwork 1 (William Forsythe), La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Taglioni), Paquita (Pierre Lacotte after Mazilier and Petipa), Suite en Blanc, Les Mirages (Serge Lifar), Sylvia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (John Neumeier), The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Nikiya / La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev), Carmen (Roland Petit), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), In The Night, En Sol, and Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins)... . She was also chosen to dance in numerous first productions at the Opera, including Musings (James Kudelka, 1997), Le Concours – the role of Ada (Maurice Béjart, 1999), Perpetuum (Ohad Naharin, 2000), Stepping Stones, Bella Figura (Jiří Kylián, 2001), Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine, 2003), La Dame aux Camélias (John Neumeier, 2006), Mademoiselle Julie – the title role (Birgit Cullberg, 2014). She has also danced in several world premieres, including Rythme de valses (Roland Petit, 1994), Casanova (Angelin Preljocaj, 1998), Il faut qu’une porte (Jiří Kylián, 2004), O zlozony/O composite (Trisha Brown, 2004), Amoveo (Benjamin Millepied, 2006), Romeo and Juliet (Sasha Waltz, 2007), Siddharta – the role of the Spiritual Awakening (Angelin Preljocaj, 2010), L'anatomie de la sensation (Wayne McGregor, 2011), Psyché – the title role (Alexeï Ratmansky, 2011), Boléro (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/Damien Jalet, 2013), Darkness is Hiding Black Horses (Saburo Teshigawara, 2013), Daphnis et Chloé – the role of Chloé (Benjamin Millepied, 2014) and Together Alone (Benjamin Millepied, 2015). Étoile dancer Aurélie Dupont made her official farewell to the stage of the Paris Opera on Monday, May18, 2015, after a performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. In 2001, Aurélie Dupont, received the Prix Benois de la Danse for her interpretation of the roles of Nikiya in La Bayadère (choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev) and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (choreographed by John Neumeier). She is a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and a member of the Ordre National du Mérite. Appointed by the Paris Opera’s Director Stéphane Lissner on February 4 2016, Aurélie Dupont officially took over as the Paris Opera’s Director of Dance on August 1 2016. She succeeds Benjamin Millepied.

Aurélie Dupont

1994 Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.
1997 Joins the Corps de ballet.
2001&nbsp; He becomes a “Coryphée”.
He performs the&nbsp;The Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinsky).&nbsp;

2003&nbsp; He is made a “Sujet”. Prix AROP de la Danse.&nbsp;

2008&nbsp; He is made a “Premier danseur”.&nbsp;On June 2nd 2010, Stéphane Bullion is made an « Étoile » following a performance of La Bayadère (Rudolf Nureyev).He makes his official farewell to the stage of the Paris Opera on Saturday 4 June 2022, in Mats Ek’s pas de deux Another Place.

Bullion Stéphane

1990 :&nbsp;Enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.

1997 :&nbsp;Joins the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.

2004 :&nbsp;Promoted to « Coryphée ». Dances Eurydice / Orphée et Eurydice (Pina Bausch).

2005 :&nbsp;Promoted to&nbsp;« Sujet ».

2008&nbsp;:&nbsp;AROP Dance Prize.

2012 :&nbsp;Promoted to « Première danseuse ». 

Alice Renavand was named "Danseuse Étoile" on December 20th 2013, following the performance of Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj) in which she danced the main female role for the first time. Alice Renavand was named Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Renavand Alice

He has since added to his repertoire: the Member and the Man in Black in La Petite Danseuse deDegas, Coppélius in Coppélia (Patrice Bart), Agon, Sonatine (George Balanchine), the title role of Onegin (John Cranko), Petrushka (Michel Fokine), Woundwork 1 (William Forsythe), Nuages (Jiří Kylián), Lucien d’Hervilly in Paquita (Pierre Lacotte after Joseph Mazilier and Marius Petipa), Mnester in Caligula (Nicolas Le Riche), Armand in La Dame aux Camélias (John Neumeier), Afternoon of a Faun (Vaslav Nijinsky), Drosselmeyer / the Prince in The Nutcracker, the Dance Teacher in Cinderella, Rothbart in Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev), the Young Proust in Proust ou les Intermittences du Cœur, Le Loup, the Young Man in Le Rendez-vous (Roland Petit), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), Eros in Psyché (Alexei Ratmansky), Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins).

Pech Benjamin

He has since added to his repertoire: Le Palais de Cristal, Duo Concertant, Violin Concerto, le Cavalier de Titania et le Divertissement dans Le Songe d’une nuit d’été, La Valse (George Balanchine), A-bras-le-corps (Charmatz), the title role of Onegin (John Cranko), Études (Harald Lander), Hippolytus in Phaedra (Serge Lifar), Armand in La Dame aux Camélias (John Neumeier), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliette (Noureev), Don José in Carmen, Quasimodo in Notre-Dame de Paris (Roland Petit), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins), Polyphonia (Wheeldon).

Paquette Karl

Born in Greece, Nicholas Georgiadis graduated from the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, where he later became a professor of set design. He created his first sets in 1955 for Kenneth MacMillan's Danses concertantes, and went on to collaborate with the choreographer on a regular basis. From 1957 onwards, he designed theatre and opera sets for stages in London, Athens and Frankfurt. From 1964, he collaborated with Rudolf Nureyev, designing the sets and costumes for Swan Lake (at the Vienna Opera), The Nutcracker (at the Royal Ballet in London, then at La Scala in Milan and the Berlin Opera), Sleeping Beauty (at La Scala in Milan and for the National Ballet of Canada, then for the London Festival Ballet), Raymonda (at the Zurich Opera and the American Ballet Theatre), Don Quixote for the Operas of Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Zurich, the Royal Ballet of London, the National Ballet of Canada, the London Festival Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. He worked on Michel Cacoyannis's film Les Troyennes (1971) and reconstructed the sets and costumes by Bakst, Benois and Röhrich for Herbert Ross's film Nijinsky (1979). In 1982 he received the Evening Standard Ballet Award, the first time this had been awarded to a set designer. In 1989, he was made a Commander of the British Empire. At the Opéra national de Paris, he designed the sets and costumes for Rudolf Nureyev's productions of Don Quixote (1981), Raymonda (1983), The Nutcracker (1985), Sleeping Beauty (1989), the costumes for Washington Square (1985), and those for L'Histoire de Manon (MacMillan), which entered the repertory in 1990. He died in 2001.

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