The Opera Bastille has 2,723 seats of unrestricted view and hosts numerous performances every season, so no matter when you visit, there will be a performance to uplift your soul. Featuring opera, concerts and ballet performances, the 2011-2012 season will see over 800,000 spectators. This season, performances include Gounod's Faust and Coline Serreau will direct a new production of Manon. 

In concert, well-known  performers such as Philippe Jordan will bring Les nuits d'été by Berlioz sung by Waltraud Meier, as well as the world premiere of a violin concerto by Bruno Mantovani.

Audiences will also be enchanted by ballet performed by The Etoiles, Premiers Danseurs and Corps de Ballet in pieces as varied as Pina Bausch'sOrpheus ed Euridice, Sasha Waltz' Romeo and Juliet, Mats Ek's Appartement, Kenneth MacMillan's L'histoire de Manon, John Cranko's Onegine,Cinderella and La Bayadère by Rudolf Noureev and Frederick Ashton's reworking of La Fille mal Gardée. 

All performances range form classic to contemporary and in keeping with the vision of its founding, are very affordably priced.  

You can also tour the opera house without seeing an opera Monday-Saturday (closed Sunday, May 1, July 14, and December 25, as well as during rehearsals & other special events, and also closed to visitors during the summer); guided visits are given at 10am, 1pm, and 5:30pm, or by prior appointment. Tickets for a tour of the opera house cost €11 for adults, €9 for students, €6 for children.

What: The Opera Bastille 
Where: Place de la Bastille; 75012 Paris
URL: http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/

Recommended Hotel: Hotel Les Jardins du Marais