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.
