Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo has unveiled its 2026-2027 season, opening at the end of October with the 30th anniversary of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s ‘Roméo et Juliette’ and running through to the following summer with a programme that pairs the company’s own repertoire with a run of international guests and a New Year staging of ‘Ma Bayadère’.
Presented under the presidency of the Princess of Hanover, the season unfolds across the company’s two main homes — the Salle Garnier at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the Grimaldi Forum — and once again folds in the Monaco Dance Forum, the international showcase Maillot founded in 2000. Maillot, the company’s choreographer-director since 1993, anchors the programme with several of his own works.
An anniversary opening
The season opens with ‘Roméo et Juliette’, Maillot’s account of the Shakespeare tragedy, first created in 1996 and returning to mark three decades, at the Salle Garnier from 29th to 31st October and on 1st November 2026. In December, the company pairs ‘Bronia’, a work by Antonio De Rosa and Mattia Russo of the Spanish company Kor’sia, with Maillot’s ‘Altro Canto’ at the Grimaldi Forum from 19th to 21st December.
The turn of the year belongs to ‘Ma Bayadère’, Maillot’s large-scale reworking of the classic ‘La Bayadère’, danced to Minkus’s score with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra under Garrett Keast. It runs at the Grimaldi Forum from 28th to 31st December and on 2 ndJanuary 2027, with the New Year’s Eve performance offered as a gala outside the subscription.
The Monaco Dance Forum returns
April brings the Monaco Dance Forum and a season within the season. The British-Indian dancer Aakash Odedra opens it with ‘Songs of the Bulbul’ on 22nd April, and the Spanish flamenco artist Israel Galván presents his reading of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’, danced to two live pianos, on 26th April, both at the Salle Garnier. The Scirocco company gathers an international cast — among them Diana Vishneva, Polina Semionova, Gil Roman, Igone de Jongh and Marijn Rademaker — for a double bill of ‘Death in Venice’ and John Neumeier’s ‘Bridge of Sighs’, while Cécile Martinez and Compagnie 6ème Sens contribute an inclusive-dance creation, ‘Lever les yeux’.
The forum closes with a Bartók evening pairing Maillot’s ‘Le Mandarin Merveilleux’ (The Miraculous Mandarin) with Alexeï Ratmansky’s ‘Le Prince de Bois’ (The Wooden Prince), performed with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic under Elias Brandy, at the Grimaldi Forum from 27th to 30th April and on 2nd May.
Through to summer
Beyond the forum, the company will take part in the opening ceremony of the Games of the Small States of Europe at the Place du Palais on 17th May, before the Académie Princesse Grace holds its annual gala on 18th and 19th June. Maillot’s ‘La Mégère apprivoisée’, his ‘Taming of the Shrew’ first made for the Bolshoi, follows from 24th to 27th June, and July brings a double bill of Paul Lightfoot’s ‘See You’ and Balanchine’s ‘Violin Concerto’ from 8th to 11th July. The season closes with Maillot’s ‘Cendrillon’, his ‘Cinderella’, from 22nd to 25th July, all at the Salle Garnier.
Beyond the main stage
Away from the main auditoriums, the company continues its ‘Pas Croisés’ performances at the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice, with principal dancer Mimoza Koike, on 20th November and 21st May. There is a free screening of Stanley Donen’s ‘Funny Face’, with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, on 25th April at the Grimaldi Forum, a family dance workshop in December, and a run of studio performances, ‘Les Imprévus’, reserved for five-show subscribers, alongside the company’s educational projects.
Tickets and information
Individual tickets range from €25 to €39, with a flat €15 rate for under-25s, rising to between €45 and €59 for the New Year’s Eve gala. Subscriptions start at €99 for three performances and €170 for five. Booking is through the Grimaldi Forum and the Atrium of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and online at balletsdemontecarlo.com and montecarloticket.com. A 20 per cent reduction is available for those with reduced mobility, and a coach shuttle, ‘La Voiture Ballet’, runs from Nice for selected performances.
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Photo source: Ballets de Monte-Carlo