Examples of projects to support
Opera Ballet tour in Russia, September 2010
As part of of the French Year in Russia, this Ballet tour will provide a special opportunity to celebrate and reinforce the bonds of friendship which have united the two countries over the last three centuries.
As a tribute to this tradition of exchange, the Opera Ballet has chosen to perform Paquita: created by Joseph Mazilier in 1846 for the Opera Ballet, Paquita was restaged at the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre at the end of the 19th century by Marius Petipa
For its return to Russia, the adaptation of Paquita by Pierre Lacotte (2001) will be presented at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.
The educational programmes
In order to make the opera and ballet performances accessible to a wide audience, for several years the Paris Opera has been developing specific activities intended for young audiences and particularly young people with very limited access to cultural institutions by way of two educational programs: Dix mois d’Ecole et d’Opéra (Ten Months of School and Opera) and the Young Audience series.
The Paris Opera and the handicapped
As a public establishment one of the Paris Opera's special missions is to facilitate access to culture for the greatest number of people possible and in particular for the 550 000 people who visit the Palais Garnier each year and both theatres’ 800 000 spectators.
Although the Paris Opera participates in work groups concerned with accommodating handicapped people in cultural establishments and has, since 2004, increased the performances with audio descriptions adapted to spectators suffering from impaired sight, the present-day possibilities for welcoming these audiences are still too restricted, particularly at the Palais Garnier.
The Paris Opera therefore wishes to initiate a large-scale policy to benefit these spectators.
Restoration of the Rotonde des Abonnés
(Subscribers Rotunda)
The Paris Opera is organising a vast restoration project for the Palais Garnier’s ground floor transversal axis which stretches from the roofed Subscribers’ entrance, stage left, on Rue Gluck across to the Emperor’s Ramp stage right on Rue Auber.
The Rotonde des Abonnés, (Subscribers Rotunda), one of the showpieces of Charles Garnier’s architectural project, is situated at the centre of this axis.
The Paris Opera is renovating this “historic axis”, which represents one of the most important areas of the building: in days of old, this was a central area in the theatre, richly decorated with sculptures, marble and mosaics, through which the subscribers passed to gain access to the theatre.
