Starry Nights at the Ritz Paris: opera and dance in the Grand Garden

Imagine the Ritz Paris turning into a live performance venue! An event that’s bound to dazzle. The legendary hotel on the Place Vendôme, in Paris’s 1st arrondissement, is hosting this summer the very first edition of the Nuits Étoilées, its open-air festival weaving together opera, classical dance and orchestral music. Three extraordinary evenings, the 13, 14 and 15 June 2026, imagined by artistic director Frédéric Fontan, with as godmother the Etoile dancer of the Opéra national de Paris, Roxane Stojanov.

The setting alone is reason enough to linger. The Grand Jardin à la française du Ritz Paris unfolds across 1,600 m², punctuated by 26 lime trees, clipped box, white magnolias, jasmine, and period fountains. An space conceived as a homage to Versailles gardens cherished by César Ritz, kept away from city noise and designed for this occasion as a genuine theater of bosquets. Each evening, 300 privileged spectators will take their seats, welcomed from 8:15 p.m. with canapés and champagne Roederer, before the show begins at 9 p.m. for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. A Ritz Paris keepsake is presented to each guest at the end of the evening. For those wishing to extend the experience, a Gold category at 550 euros grants access to a backstage meet-and-greet with the artistic director and some of the performers.

The musical direction for the quartet and piano is entrusted to Aymeric Gracia, a musician who regularly collaborates with the Opéra National de Paris and serves as an arranger for ballet.

Saturday, June 13, the Diamond Night opens the ball in tribute to Place Vendôme and its renowned jewelry houses. On stage you’ll see Axelle Saint-Cirel, the mezzo-soprano whom the public first discovered when she performed La Marseillaise at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony, and the soprano Claire de Monteil, lauded at La Scala in Milan. The evening’s highlight will be the world premiere of a solo created especially for Roxane Stojanov to a Chopin work — a composer closely tied to the history of Place Vendôme.

• To be read
• Gatsby Nights at the Ritz Paris, we tested the dinner-show to dive into the Roaring Twenties.
• This week's top picks in Paris and Île-de-France, April 20–26, 2026

On Sunday, June 14, the Night of the Romantics celebrates every shade of romantic love, from La Bohème to Swan Lake. Soprano Tamara Bounazou, winner of the Opera Revelation prize at the 2026 Victoires de la Musique Classique, and tenor Quentin Desgeorges will share the stage. Paris Opera Ballet dancers Andrea Sarri and Mickaël Lafon will perform the pas de deux The Battle of the Angels, an excerpt from Roland Petit’s ballet Proust—a fitting homage to Marcel Proust, an inseparable figure of the Ritz. The étoile Maia Makhateli will offer the Parisian premiere of an adagio from Swan Lake.

On Monday, June 15, the Moonlit Night closes the festival in a mood of pared-down nature and nocturnal elegance. The Brazilian soprano Bruno de Sá will carry the evening with his virtuosic voice, notably with an unprecedented interpretation of Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals. The stars Alice Renavand and Mathieu Ganio will dance The Park by Angelin Preljocaj, while the legendary Agnès Letestu will offer a solo choreographed for her by Jean-Claude Gallotta. In a grand finale, the world premiere of a solo created for Alice Renavand to a reinterpretation of The Death of the Swan will conclude this inaugural edition.

Tickets are available from €150 to €390 depending on the seating category on the Ritz Paris official site. The Ritz Paris sits at 15 Place Vendôme, just steps from the Vendôme Column and the Tuileries Garden.

This festival is aimed first and foremost at lovers of opera and classical dance who are seeking an experience off the beaten path, in a venue steeped in history. It’s also a wonderful chance for curious visitors to discover this legendary hotel from an artistic angle and to spend an evening out of time under the June sky.

Also to discover: Opera at Palazzo at the Jacquemart-André Museum, for La Traviata or Rigoletto in the hushed, intimate setting of a 19th‑century town house, and the Grandes Eaux Nocturnes 2026 at the Palace of Versailles, for another exceptional evening in a French-style garden, on Saturday nights from June 6 to September 19, 2026.

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