New Director for Paris Opera Ballet

The November Vogue magazine cover story is a grand tour of the Paris Opera Ballet with new Director Benjamin Millepied, and photographs by Annie Leibovitz:

When Napoleon III commissioned Baron Haussmann to replace the rambling streets of his nation’s capital with arteries of wide, stately avenues, the centerpiece of the scheme — and its costliest building — was to be the Paris Opera House. Occupying more than 120,000 square feet and 12 stories (five of them below ground), this temple to opera and ballet was named for its architect, Charles Garnier.

Chosen from among plans submitted by 171 architects, his heady Renaissance pastiche defined the embellished excesses of the Beaux Arts school. “What is this?” asked Napoleon’s empress, Eugénie, testily when she was shown the design (she was said to favor the architect Viollet-le-Duc). “It’s not a style; it’s neither Louis Quatorze nor Louis Quinze nor Louis Seize!”

“Why, madame,” Garnier responded artfully, “it’s Napoleon Trois!”

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Now this storied institution is turning a new page with the arrival of the 37-year-old French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. As the newly appointed director of the Paris Opera Ballet, he joins a wave of glamorous young innovators heading up legendary arts companies, from Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic to Andris Nelsons at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.