Kicking off the Ritz Paris' Starry Nights: opera and dance in the Grand Jardin.

We didn’t necessarily expect the Ritz Paris to turn into a live-performance venue, and yet. The iconic hotel on the Place Vendôme, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, hosts this summer the very first edition of the Nuits Étoilées, its outdoor festival blending opera, classical dance, and orchestral music. Three exceptional evenings, June 13, 14 and 15, 2026, imagined by artistic director Frédéric Fontan, with the godmother of the event, the étoile dancer of the Paris Opera, Roxane Stojanov.

We were there for the opening night, the Nuit de Diamant, and the setting did the rest: a beautiful June sky, pleasant warmth, and jasmine scents wafting through the Grand Jardin à la française du Ritz Paris. This 1,600-square-meter space, lined with 26 lime trees, meticulously trimmed boxwood, white magnolias, and vintage fountains, is nothing short of magical. Created in tribute to the Versailles-style gardens cherished by César Ritz, it during these evenings becomes a genuine green theatre, right up close to the audience.

We are first welcomed by a row of servers offering drinks and champagne, as canapés circulate until the bell rings to invite you to your seat. From the opening notes, the tone is set: a flutist, an instrumental ensemble, piano (the crystal-clear sound of the singers carries beautifully in this inner courtyard). For 1h30, no fewer than 15 tableaux mêlant chant et danse unfold in succession to our great delight, in an elegant and precise staging.

The show opens with a radiant Axelle Saint-Cirel, unveiled to the wider public by her rendition of La Marseillaise at the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Her cavatina from Meyerbeer’s The Huguenots sets the scene with style, before flutist Julie Huguet threads the early notes of Vivaldi through the garden’s hushed silence. The Air des Bijoux from Gounod’s Faust then gives Claire de Monteil the chance for a striking first entrance, carried by a theatrical dance that elegantly outfits the space. The Habanera from Carmen and the Barcarolle from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, performed in duet by the two sopranos, raise the temperature in this verdant setting (we’re won over).

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Next come the choreographic tableaux, and that’s where the evening takes on a new dimension. The piece Renaissance, set to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, brings together Roxane Stojanov and Florent Melac in a choreography by Sébastien Bertaud of striking grace. Then L'Impératrice, a solo created especially for L'Étoile to Chopin’s Nocturne Op.9 N°1 (the composer intimately tied to the history of Place Vendôme), suspends time. We hold our breath. The Andante Elegiaco by Tchaïkovski, entrusted to the instrumental ensemble, offers a purely musical interlude of beautiful intensity, before Claire de Monteil carries us away with Puccini’s Un bel dì, vedremo, a rare emotional moment.

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The evening closes in style with Prokofiev’s Cinderella pas de deux, choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev and performed by Roxane Stojanov and Florent Melac (an utterly elegant finale that single-handedly captures the ambition of these Starry Nights). And as if that weren’t enough, an encore arrives: Heure Exquise from Lehár’s The Merry Widow, offered as a duo by , under the stars in the Grand Garden. A suspended moment that leaves you walking away with a smile and a craving to return the very next day.