It was indeed in the costume of Albrecht – the lovesick suitor of the tragic Giselle – that, just over two years ago, the young dancer was promoted to Étoile. Alongside Dorothée Gilbert, who performed as Giselle, he wrote a new chapter in the history of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Yet at the time of this consecration, Guillaume Diop was still only a Sujet – in other words, a junior soloist promoted from the corps de ballet. Like several illustrious Étoiles before him, such as Hugo Marchand and Dorothée Gilbert, he failed his first promotion competition to the rank of Coryphée (a confirmed member of the corps de ballet). In June 2021, three years after joining the company, he landed his first true solo role while still just a Quadrille substitute in the corps de ballet. That year, he performed Romeo for the first time opposite Étoile Léonore Baulac in Rudolf Nureyev’s ballet set to Prokofiev’s sublime score.

It was partly due to a series of injuries suffered by other dancers during the 2022–2023 season – notably during performances of Swan Lake – that Guillaume Diop emerged as a potential future Étoile. When the company embarked on its tour in South Korea, he was chosen to perform Albrecht alongside the celebrated Dorothée Gilbert, nearly twenty years his senior. It was then that he was officially named Étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Today, he reprises this iconic role in the Paris Opera Ballet’s 2025–2026 season, on October 18 and 28, 2025. In addition, he will appear in the contemporary dance program Contrastes, running from December 1 to 31, 2025.

Pour découvrir Guillaume Diop dans Giselle, cliquez ici !

Et pour le voir dans le programme Contrastes, c’est ici !

Et pour en savoir plus sur l’actualité de l’Opéra de Paris, cliquez ici !

Guillaume Diop – c – Virginie Ribaut / Musée Grévin

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In 2021, Philip Glass’s Akhnaten has been performed on the French Riviera, winning both critical and public acclaim. The American composer Philip Glass, one of the leading figures of minimalist music, wrote a trilogy of operas on “men who changed the world in which they lived through the power of their ideas.”

By bringing together emerging artists such as Robert Wilson and Lucinda Childs, the first part, Einstein on the Beach (composed in 1976), caused a sensation and marked its era. After Akhnaten, Bertrand Rossi has outpaced the Paris Opera by programming Satyagraha for the very first time in France since its creation!

While the “Grande Boutique” is preparing a production staged by Bobbi Jene Smith for April 2026, Nice once again calls on the legendary Lucinda Childs, who will take on both direction and choreography. On October 3, 5, and 7, 2025, Léo Warynski will conduct the chorus and orchestra of the Opéra de Nice, just as he did in 2021, with a cast featuring tenor Sahy Ratia as Gandhi and Julie Robard-Gendre, also present in 2021.

An ode to peace and humanity, Satyagraha draws inspiration from Gandhi’s journey and his concept of non-violent resistance, while evoking great figures such as the writer Leo Tolstoy, the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The entire Opéra de Nice company will then head to the Philharmonie de Paris for a concert version of Akhnaten, which is already sold out! Philip Glass and the Opéra de Nice are riding wave after wave of success!

To see Philip Glass’ work, click here!

And to find out more about Paris Opera news, click here!

Philip Glass’ Satyagraha production at Opéra de Nice – c – Opéra de Nice

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Like a sextant, indispensable to long-distance navigators on the planet of classical music, the Music & Opera Guide offers an overview of the entire 2025–2026 programme. More than 570 institutions around the world, including concert halls, opera houses, orchestras and dance companies, are featured, representing more than 48,000 performances from 1 September 2025 to 30 August 2026!

With a month-by-month calendar, indexes by artist and by work, as well as profiles of singers, conductors and instrumentalists, classical music lovers can navigate the season efficiently. Thanks to the 2025-2026 Music & Opera Guide Around the World, the season of Asmik Grigorian, Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Renaud Capuçon, Riccardo Muti and many others is revealed.

The greatest institutions such as the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, the Musikverein in Vienna and the Royal Ballet & Opera have their own dedicated chapter, providing all the information you need to book your seats with a detailed map of each venue so you don’t miss a thing during this wonderful 2025-2026 season.

Order your Guide and enjoy an exceptional season around the world, at the opera and in concert halls, by clicking here!

To know all about the musical institutions of the Guide, it’s here!

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This contemporary ballet, entitled Red Carpet, had its world premiere at the Palais Garnier on 10 June 2025. It marks an important stage in the choreographer’s career: it is his very first creation specially conceived for the Opéra national de Paris. True to his characteristic style, Hofesh Shechter has also created the soundtrack for Red Carpet, a haunting music with folkloric overtones that matches his “glamorous” and“punk” choreography.

In Red Carpet, the thirteen dancers of the Opera are not the only ones to occupy the stage. The emblematic red curtain and the majestic chandelier of the Palais Garnier also play a central role, almost as characters in their own right. But why this focus on the décor? When asked about the meaning of the title, Hofesh Shechter remains enigmatic: he simply wanted “to make a nod to the Opera“.

Red Carpet is set to seduce audiences across the Atlantic. The troupe will perform from 2 to 4 October 2025 at the Berkeley Theatre in San Francisco, then from 9 to 12 October 2025 at the New York City Center.

In the meantime, the creation continues to impress Parisian audiences. Red Carpet is on show at the Palais Garnier until 14 July 2025.

To see Hofesh Shechter’s creation at Garnier, click here!

To find out more about the latest news from the Paris Opera, click here.

Premiere of Red Carpet at the Palais Garnier – c – Julien Benhamou

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From 27 June to 14 July 2026, the Paris Opera Ballet will revive her masterpiece The Seasons’ Canon, a creation that has become iconic since its premiere in 2016.

Crystal Pite is one of the most beloved contemporary choreographers among Parisian audiences. Her monumental work Body and Soul, created in 2019 for the Paris Opera’s 350th anniversary, left a lasting impression with its dramatic intensity and groundbreaking choreographic storytelling.

With the return of The Seasons’ Canon, she invites spectators once more into her hypnotic world, set to Max Richter’s reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The piece is renowned for its striking visual effect, with the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet forming a human tide that moves in perfect unison, echoing the structure of a musical canon and creating the illusion of a constant flow. There are no solo stars here—only a celebration of the collective, where every body contributes to a living fresco in perpetual motion.

This much-anticipated revival already promises to be one of the standout events of the 2025–2026 season. Fans of contemporary dance and loyal followers of the Paris Opera alike are sure to snap up tickets to (re)discover the brilliance of Crystal Pite.

To be the first to have your tickets for the performance, click here!

The Season Canon by le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris & Crystal Pite – c – Julien Benhamou & Anoush Abrar

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To be fair, José Martinez, the company’s Director of Dance, has pulled off quite the coup: the first cast brings together no fewer than five Étoiles of the Paris Opera Ballet on the Garnier stage — a rare and resplendent event within the company’s historic walls. The tale of Diana’s nymph will be brought vividly to life by Amandine Albisson in the title role, with Germain Louvet as Aminta, Guillaume Diop as Eros, and Marc Moreau as Orion. As for Diana, goddess of the hunt, she will be portrayed by Roxane Stojanov — newly promoted to Étoile at the dawn of 2025!

Manuel Legris, a former Étoile of the company and now a distinguished choreographer, offers a faithful revival of Louis Mérante’s original version, set to the luminous score by Léo Delibes. Faithful, however, does not mean static — Manuel Legris has infused the work with the elegance of the French ballet tradition, combined with a thoroughly modern technical rigour.

And with a five-star cast already in place, José Martinez has entrusted the supporting roles to the company’s virtuoso Premiers Danseurs — Florent Mélac will dance Endymion, Francesco Mura becomes the Faun, and the radiant young Inès McIntosh, full of promise, will perform the Naiad. By spotlighting soloists beloved by audiences — some already prizewinners — José Martinez signals his intention to shake up the company’s famously hierarchical system by offering rising stars a chance to shine now, not later.

The premiere of Sylvia, now entering the Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire, is already nearly sold out — but this same dazzling constellation of dancers will return for performances on 10, 21 and 23 May 2025.

Secure your seats now — before they vanish!

CLICK HERE FOR THE LAST REMAINING TICKETS!

To learn more about this new production, click also here!

Amandine Albisson, Marc Moreau, Germain Louvet, Guillaume Diop & Roxane Stojanov – c – James Bort & Matthew Brookes (source : OnP)

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Designed as a springboard into professional life, the Junior Ballet’s mission is to train and support a new generation of dancers selected to follow a two-year programme at most. By offering a carefully supervised stage experience, it enables these young artists to develop autonomy, physical stamina, and stage presence – all essential qualities for eventually joining a major company such as the Paris Opera Ballet.

Unlike the main troupe, the Junior Ballet does not perform in Paris’s iconic venues like the Palais Garnier or the Opéra Bastille, but instead focuses on a broader reach, both across France and internationally.

This initiative is also a wonderful opportunity for ballet enthusiasts and world-renowned dance companies to scout the talents and future stars of tomorrow. After a stop in Greece, the Junior Ballet will take to the stage of the Royal Opera of Versailles from 12 to 14 June 2025, presenting a programme that brings together leading names in neo-classical and contemporary choreography, such as George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, and José Martinez himself.

A unique chance to witness the next generation of dance in a truly exceptional heritage setting.

Prenez-vite vos places pour voir le Junior Ballet, en cliquant ici !

Junior Ballet with José Martinez – c – Julien Benhamou

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She was supposed to make her stage debut at the Paris Opera in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, but the production was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic. Now, at last, audiences at the Opéra Bastille will have the chance to fully discover Asmik Grigorian’s talents—not just once, but three times over!

Indeed, the magnificent soprano will finally take the stage in an opera from April 29 to May 28, 2025, and not just any opera. Puccini’s Il Trittico is a cycle of three operas (Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, and Suor Angelica), in which Asmik Grigorian will perform the three leading female roles (Lauretta, Giorgetta, and Suor Angelica)—a true vocal and theatrical marathon.

Even more so since the production has been entrusted to Christof Loy, who is making his debut at the Paris Opera after the great success of his Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The stage director has chosen to present the works in an unusual order: first Gianni Schicchi, a burlesque farce set in medieval Florence, then Il Tabarro, a passionate drama unfolding on a barge along the banks of the Seine, and finally Suor Angelica, a heartrending tragedy and certainly one of the most moving soprano roles in all of opera—a universe already rich with emotion—composed by the genius Puccini.

To admire Asmik Grigorian in Il Trittico, click here!

And tout know more about the news of the Opéra national de Paris, it’s here!

Asmik Grigorian & Affiche d’Il Trittico – c – Algirdas Bakas & OnP Website

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This revival is all the more symbolic as Sylvia was the very first classical ballet choreographed at Garnier in 1876, just one year after the inauguration of this true cultural temple and one of Paris’ most iconic landmarks.

Created by Louis Mérante, a former Étoile dancer who became the ballet master of the prestigious institution, it is one of the great classical ballets that defined its era. Despite its renown, this work remains rare and is seldom performed in the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Long forgotten, Sylvia experienced a resurgence in 1952 thanks to the choreography of Frederick Ashton, artistic director of the Royal Ballet. His version quickly became a staple in the repertoire of the world’s leading ballet companies.

Today, Manuel Legris carries the torch for the Paris Opera Ballet. Created in 2018 for La Scala Ballet in Milan, his choreography now officially enters the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet.

With a renewed approach while remaining deeply faithful to classical dance, Manuel Legris brings a deeper dimension to the characters, particularly Diana, goddess of the hunt, and Sylvia, a prisoner of her own laws. This enriched vision adds an extra layer of dramatic intensity to a work that has left its mark on Garnier’s stage history. Like Rudolf Nureyev before him, Manuel Legris gives greater prominence to male roles, elevating them to the same technical level as the female characters.

An event not to be missed, where the grace and power of ballet promise to captivate the audience at the Palais Garnier!

To book your tickets, click here!

Affiche Sylvia – c – OnP

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Christoph Eschenbach has had an extraordinary life journey. He was born in Wroclaw on February 20, 1940, or rather in Breslau, which was then a German city before becoming Polish again in 1945. His mother, a singer, passed away during childbirth, and his father, Herbert Ringmann, a conductor and musicologist, continued conducting until 1943 before being drafted into the army. He died on the front in Thuringia, leaving little Christoph a war orphan. He was taken in by his grandmother, who later died in the Mecklenburg camp, where they have bee refugees. A legend tells that these traumatic events plunged him into silence for a year until one day, someone asked him if he wanted to play music. He was then raised by a cousin of his mother in Wismar, in the Schleswig-Holstein region.

Wallydore Eschenbach, a pianist and singer, became his guardian and gave him her name. She provided him with his first piano lessons, which would prove to be decisive in his artistic life. To this day, he still keeps the Bechstein piano of the woman who became his mother.

At the age of ten, he won first prize at the Steinway Competition in Hamburg. He studied under pianist Eliza Hansen and learned conducting from Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg. Winning the prestigious ARD International Piano Competition in 1962 and the Clara Haskil Competition in 1965 in Switzerland earned him international recognition and opened the doors to the world’s greatest concert halls. Discovered by Herbert von Karajan, another key figure in his life, he was invited to perform as a pianist and made his U.S. debut under the baton of George Szell, with whom he continued his training in conducting.

In 1982, Eschenbach became the principal conductor of the Tonhalle Zürich before making a name for himself as the leader of the NDR Sinfonieorchester, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein and Ravinia festivals.

However, his greatest love affair was with the Orchestre de Paris, where he served as music director for ten years. Even though he told us in a 2021 interview that he was dedicating himself 100% to conducting, Christoph Eschenbach has never left the piano. His discography includes more than 80 recordings, whether as a solo pianist, accompanist, or conductor. In chamber music or as a collaborative pianist, he has shared the stage with the greatest artists.

Christoph Eschenbach, who has always enjoyed bringing young talents into the spotlight, has also been a talent scout, discovering artists such as Tzimon Barto, Lang Lang, Julia Fischer, Ray Chen, and Renée Fleming. There is so much to say about this towering figure of classical music… But let’s start with this: Happy Birthday, Maestro!

To see this incredible conductor, click here!

Chrsitoph Eschenbach – c – Marco Borggreve

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