Django, ballet and opera

A contemporary Cinderella ballet from Geneva on the 31st and 1st

The programme opens with a classic interpretation of Swan Lake (Le Lac des Cygnes) by one of Russia's leading companies. The Tchaikovski of Perm National Ballet company will be performing in the Grand Auditorium on the 4th.
The other is a contemporary rendition of the Cinderella story, Cendrillon, which comes to the Grand Auditorium on the 31st and then the 1st of January, courtesy of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre of Geneva.

Opera and dance lovers are in for a treat on the 10th when for the first time in France the Moscow Opera orchestra, choir and ballet perform Symphonic Mania, billed as the "biggest show ever" staged around classic arias and music scores (La Traviata, Carmen, Carmina Burana, Ravel's Bolero, Rigoletto and the Four Seasons to name a few). An orchestra of 60 musicians, 50 singers and 40 dancers take to the stage for two performances (3pm and 8.30pm) with a video backdrop.

Django Reinhardt fans will be looking forward to Django Drom on the 18th, a tribute to the great guitarist created by Tony Gatlif in June 2010 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, and now on tour. The show evokes the gypsy life Reinhardt grew up in, and combines movies and music performed by an ensemble of 11 musicians, a violin soloist (Didier Lockwood) and two guitarists. It  all starts at 8.30pm in the Grand Auditorium.

And last but not least for those who appreciate French theatre, the rarely performed Boubouroche by Georges Courteline (1858-1929) comes to the Debussy Theatre on the 22nd at 8.30pm. A 40-minute two-act play by the stylish humourist, it is set at a time when women did not have the vote and is described as "amoral, funny and touching".
Tel: 04 92 99 33 83 or see the website for more details.

www.palaisdesfestivals.com