Scheduling changes for the Direction of the Paris Opera & Ballet and the closing of the opera houses in the last half of 2020 for a full reopening in 2021

Ministry of Culture & Communication Press Release

Stéphane Lissner, General Director of the Paris Opera & Ballet, expressed to the Minister of Culture Franck Riester, his wish to end his duties on December 31, 2020, six months before the originally planned deadline of his mandate. The Minister of Culture approved Lissner’s request. 

Franck Riester praised the work achieved by Stéphane Lissner during the six years he spent at the helm of the Paris Opera & Ballet. Lissner succeeded in offering a balanced artistic program including  great productions of the repertoire and contemporary creations starring stellar French and international artists.

With Music Director Philippe Jordan, and Brigitte Lefèvre, Benjamin Millepied and Aurélie Dupont, at the head of the Ballet Company, Stéphane Lissner has contributed to the promotion of lyrical art and dance in France at an international level. Throughout his tenure, Lissner, with the assistance of the Paris Opera & Ballet staff, ensured a very high level of activity and attracted the support of a wide audience. He has also greatly developed the institution’s private resources while providing public service missions for the art forms of opera and dance at a high level of excellence.                                                                                                      

On July 1, 2020, Minister Franck Riester will entrust to the incoming Director, Alexander Neef, who will be assisted by Martin Ajdari, Deputy General Director of the Paris Opera, an assignment consisting of:

1.    Analyzing the situation of the institution at the end of a year of unprecedented crisis;

2.   Proposing guidelines in the Fall of 2020 to maintain the standards of excellence and the international influence of the Paris Opera, while revisiting its economic, social and organizational model in order to ensure the conditions for a balanced operation;

3.   Strengthening the leadership position of the Paris Opera & Ballet at the heart of the state’s cultural policy.

Lastly, given the uncertainties related to the current health crisis, the Board of Directors of the Paris Opera & Ballet decided, during a meeting on June 11, 2020, that the stage renovation and maintenance work at the Opéra Bastille and the Palais Garnier, which were originally scheduled for the summer of 2021, to start in the Summer of 2020 instead. The lyric and choreographic programming of the Opéra national de Paris will therefore resume at the end of November 2020 in Bastille and January 2021 in Garnier.

In the meantime, the Cultural Institution will offer alternative programming based on its artistic strengths.