toursenlair Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Has been announced: http://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-2014-2015/ballet And Yikes, POB tickets have increased in price dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Not much of interest for me so that saves me some money....maybe Paquita. Would try for Swan Lake but it's at the Bastille..too big too far away from the stage and Manon...well hopefully that will be on in the UK. Not sure about others but in recent times I have found getting tickets much harder as ballet so popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Thanks Katherine - wow those prices have bumped up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 And Yikes, POB tickets have increased in price dramatically. Has there been a cut in government funding, or something? Thanks for posting this, Katherine. It's good to have information about what's happening in Paris. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Weird -- the Ballet School Demonstrations in December (always sold out) are usually on three consecutive weeks in December, with younger grades in the morning and older grades in the afternoon, with only minor variations. That's not what's listed this year. I will check with people in Paris if there's a reason for this or a misprint... Relieved that the prices of the ballet school demonstrations (and I think the April ballet school performances) seem to be unchanged. Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Yes, prices have really shot up. I can remember paying 75 Euros for seats in the Optima category for Fille just two years ago, ah those were the days! There seem to be very few matinees too. Fortunately there are excellent and much more reasonable alternatives in Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Re the dates of the Ballet School Demonstrations they are checking it out and will hopefully know tomorrow. I'll post an update here. Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Wow yes the prices have certainly shot up at least 30%....mind you the prices in Vienna are equally horrendous - it is enough to deter even the most eager ballet fan. Maybe it is a cut in subsidy and supply/demand. I wont be losing any sleep over POBs offerings this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Re the dates of the Ballet School Demonstrations they are checking it out and will hopefully know tomorrow. I'll post an update here. Yaffa I actually don't yet have this officially, but understand from POB parents that it is just the upper grades who are taking part on the Demonstrations on the 20th. The other two days (7th and 21st) have both lower school students (mornng) and upper grades students (afternoon). Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 (edited) Overseas groups reservations (not bookings) started today for the 2014-2015 season. The Paris Opera has an elaborate groups system, not too well documented online, so the following might not be completely accurate:a) Groups submit an option request - which only includes the number and band of tickets they MAY want to buy. There's a minimum of 10 tickets (but they sometimes allow 8) per band, per performance. For performances at Palais Garnier, groups can book for Bands 1-4, but not the cheaper Bands 5 and 6. For Bastille, groups can book for Bands 1-6, but not the cheaper Band 7. The Groups department then acknowledges the application (pretty soon) then lets the Group know in around 2 weeks if their request (or parts of it) have been accepted. Groups are then given up to a certain date to pay for the tickets. If they don't want to accept all the dates/bands they have been allocated, that is fine. c) Groups send payment for the tickets (In previous years this had to be by fax or bank transfer - not online). Only then does seat allocation and ticketing take place. Groups can submit a request for a particular location within a Band but this will not necessarily be honoured - it depends on availability. d) TIckets are sent by post. In case of loss etc. they can be resent or reprinted (at least a day before) and picked up 40 minutes before the performance From my own experience over the last few years: The small minimum number of seats required for a group booking has made this a good way to get tickets well before public booking starts and therefore to take advantage of advance discounted travel. If you reserve and pay early, you're also likely to get good tickets in the price band of your choice even for heavily subscribed performances - though not being able to reserve specific seats is a problem. For me the biggest pain is that group tickets are all printed, not electronic. So last minute passing on of tickets if people can't come can be logistically tricky, though tickets can be reprinted if necessary. I've always been able to pass on unused ballet school tickets to POB parents (and the POB site has a facility for buying and selling tickets). Not sure of my own travel plans, but I put in requests for tickets for the ballet school Demonstrations and Nutcracker (7th-8th Dec and 20th-21st Dec) and ballet school performances and Swan Lake in April. If you know me and want to join my group purchases (I'd need the payment in advance - at cost of course) and/or if you are interested in setting up a separate group account and can use details of cheap accommodation and transport (bus, train, plane), just send me a PM. Last year I went on the £1 bus... Yaffa [edited for typos] Edited June 2, 2014 by Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Three questions; Which venue is better for ballet? What is POB's Nutcracker like? How soon do you need to know if I would like tickets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Three questions; Which venue is better for ballet? What is POB's Nutcracker like? How soon do you need to know if I would like tickets? Aileen, I've sent you a PM about the tickets - Briefly, my request for tickets will probably be approved in about two weeks, but booking will only be possible if/when I have a group of 8-10 people for each performance who have paid upfront. Currently, I have several people who are interested but most don't know their plans for December yet.. Nutracker is the Nureyev version, which I unfortunately haven't managed to see yet, so best that someone more knowledgeable than myself answers your questions about this and the two theatres... Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stucha Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Hi Aileen, For ballet, my preference is for the Palais Garnier as it is more intimate. If you go for the side boxes, get seats numbered 1, 2 or 3 in the first row, otherwise you will be craning to see over those in front of you. Very uncomfortable The Bastille Opera is enormous, so it is better to be in the first 15 rows of the stalls or close to the front of the balconies(if you can afford it!!) otherwise you are so far away that it is hard to feel "involved". The POB Nutcracker is as Yaffa said, the Nureyev version and there are some good things in it. The Vienna State Opera ballet has the same version and it is available complete on Youtube, so it would give you a good idea. Hope that helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Hi Aileen, For ballet, my preference is for the Palais Garnier as it is more intimate. If you go for the side boxes, get seats numbered 1, 2 or 3 in the first row, otherwise you will be craning to see over those in front of you. Very uncomfortable The Bastille Opera is enormous, so it is better to be in the first 15 rows of the stalls or close to the front of the balconies(if you can afford it!!) otherwise you are so far away that it is hard to feel "involved". The POB Nutcracker is as Yaffa said, the Nureyev version and there are some good things in it. The Vienna State Opera ballet has the same version and it is available complete on Youtube, so it would give you a good idea. Hope that helps. The problem with group tickets is that some of the POB price banding is quite weird (at least to me), so requests like Stucha's recommendations might be tricky (though in practice, my requests for specific seating areas have always been honoured). NB: To know seating numbers for any Paris Opera performance before paying, it can be useful to look at the POB's official ticket exchange at http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr/ (with ballet tickets at: http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr/ballets-onp ). I've only had to use this once (via a French speaking ballet parent), and found it extremely efficient and fast. It's not just a meeting place for buyers and sellers but offers payment facilities and takes a cut of the proceeds. Tickets can't be offered above face value and the sellers know that even after the Paris Opera have take their commission, people won't pay more for tickets than on the main site. The exchange also has an interesting system for sellers e.g. an option for the price to drop/change gradually as the date of the performance approaches. Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) The December annual ballet school demonstrations are considerably cheaper than other Paris Opera performance, with the highest band tickets at 30 euros - about £25. So many people travelling from overseas have preferred to pay a few pounds extra to have a better view of the stage. (But costs can add up: the morning (lower division students) and afternoon (upper division students) sessions are charged as separate performances.) BTW, I understand that the annual Demonstrations are considered part of a school activity and children are not paid - but they do get paid to appear in Nutracker. Yaffa [edited for clarity] Edited June 3, 2014 by Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 In case anyone's interested in the Paris Ballet School demonstrations - public booking begins today (8th September) at 9 a.m. French time (8 a.m. UK time) at http://www.operadeparis.fr/en/saison-2014-2015/ballet/demonstrations-de-l-ecole-de-danse Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Boy, I've had some bad booking experiences on the Paris Opera site but nothing quite like this. Drupal, Secutix errors and more - and that's after a waiting room. Then lots more error messages flying, shopping cart continually emptied, being constantly logged out... No idea yet if I've got tickets. Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambros1a Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I don't know if there are many people on this forum from Ireland but Manon is live in HD in some cinemas (IMC, Lighthouse and Screen in Dublin; Carrick on Shannon and Letterkenny). The Manon performance is on May 18th and is the farewell performance of Aurélie Dupont. According to the Paris Opera website it will also be available from May 19th on Culturebox (online I think) There is also (to be confirmed) Nutcracker (recording) and Fêtez la Danse (which I think is a recording of the Défilé and Etudes from the livestream of October 4th) on December 18th. This is to be presented by Brigitte Lefèvre. http://classicalartsireland.com/1415-nutcracker-fetez-la-danse-ballet-de-paris/ http://www.fnacspectacles.com/place-spectacle/manifestation/Retransmission-Ballet-FETEZ-LA-DANSE-----ACFET.htm#blocInfos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambros1a Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Three questions; Which venue is better for ballet? What is POB's Nutcracker like? How soon do you need to know if I would like tickets? I prefer the Opera Garnier. The Opera Bastille is very large and you could find youself very far from the stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 I prefer the Opera Garnier. The Opera Bastille is very large and you could find youself very far from the stage I agree, but if you get a seat close to the front at the Bastille it's ok. But anyway, it's not as if you have a choice. If you want to go to a certain ballet, you have to go to the theatre where it's being performed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Nutracker booking opens tomorrow (15th Sept). In case anyone's interested in combining a Nutracker on 19th December with ballet school demonstrations on 20th and/or 21st, I will probably have a spare ticket. Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 (edited) When we were on holiday in Paris a few years ago, I managed to get a reduced price ticket in the middle of the Opera Garnier stalls for Manon. It was a few hours before the performance and mid-summer, so maybe that's why they had tickets left and reduced them. I also saw Sylvia that way as a last minute purchase. Edited September 14, 2014 by Dance*is*life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaffa Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I just asked a lady at the box office to clarify about last minute tickets. Category 6 (very poor view) tickets are available only at the box office (which opens at 11:30 a.m.), the week before a performance. Same day tickets are available from 1 hour before the performance (with queueing advisable one hour earlier for popular performances). These same-day tickets are in all categories and cost a flat-rate 30 euro for opera, 20 euro for ballet. They can only be bought by people aged under 28 and over 65 (who must show Government-issued proof - from the UK is fine) and people who are unemployed (who must also show proof... the lady I spoke to wasn't sure if this applies to unemployed people who live outside France.) Yaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 That's a bit ageist to the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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