The 8 rooms where to see an opera show in Paris

Are you enjoying the opera and visiting Paris, the City of Light? Here’s how to enjoy your passion by discovering the most beautiful venues to see an opera show in Paris!

It is well known and far beyond our own borders: Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. Taking a prominent place on the artistic level and in the cultural field, lyrical art is of course no exception to the rule and it is possible to enjoy the joys of opera within the French capital.

To allow you to enjoy a cultural stopover dedicated to this great art during your visit to the most romantic city of the world, we have prepared a small guide that will allow you to find where to see an opera show in Paris in all simplicity: some rooms are among the most beautiful and prestigious in the world!

1. L’Opéra Garnier

When you look for an opera show in Paris, it is very good to be interested in the fantastic Palais Garnier. Located place de l’Opéra, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, it forms, with the Opera Bastille, the famous “ Opéra national de Paris ": Clearly, this prestigious place is simply one of the world’s epicentres of the musical theatre, welcoming almost 500,000 visitors every year: it’s one of the most visited monuments in the city of Paris!

The show room has a metal structure decorated with rare marbles and stucco, as well as typical velvets and gildings of large Parisian buildings; illuminated by a few 340 luminaires, the performances that are given in it are exacerbated at the rhythm of the openings of a splendid stage curtain, which alone is a glance!

In addition, it is possible to visit this historic monument during the day without necessarily attending a chic performance in the evening and, each season, a few sixty representations are specially dedicated to the young audience who come to discover a fantastic opera show in Paris.

2. Opera Bastille

Forming, with Opéra Garnier, “the Paris Opera”, he is the second face, fully anchored in modernity. It was François Mitterrand, then President of the Republic, who decided at the beginning of 1982 to build, place de la Bastille in the 12th arrondissement, a more popular and less elitist opera than the spaces of representations then present in the capital. The construction site, colossal and traced by the talented Canadian architect Carlos Ott chosen at the end of an international design competition, lasted seven years and it was finally on July 14, 1989 – yes, at the national party! – that the fabulous Opéra Bastille was inaugurated; one of the best places to see an opera show in Paris.

In fact, the latter involves two rooms whose largest can accommodate up to 2,700 spectators! And even though you wouldn’t want to attend a performance in this great opera, it is possible for you to go to the library made available to the public and which includes a multimedia space dedicated to opera, but also to many other forms of musical art!

3. The Théâtre du Châtelet

Inscribed to the Unesco World Heritage Site since 1991, this historic monument features a splendid performance room with a sparkling glass ceiling with a grand chandelier in its centre. A beautiful mural signed by the painter Valerio Adami stands on the gallery, which allows visitors to discover an opera show in Paris to attend various and varied performances: recitals, musicals, operas, but also classical and jazz concerts.

In conclusion, here is a very interesting anecdote: the place houses the prestigious ceremony of César du cinéma , where the gratin of the big screen meets hoping to be distinguished!

4. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

It is on the very chic avenue Montaigne, in the heart of the 8th arrondissement of Paris, that you reach the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, listed as a historic monument in 1954 and considered one of the best places to see an opera show in Paris: the latter, built in 1913 in the purest art deco and inaugurated on 2 April of the same year, is home to three showrooms and a restaurant at the top.

The first room is the theatre of the Champs-Élysées, a large room “at the Italian” able to accommodate 1905 people, and who is destined to present some opera shows and musical concerts. The second, the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, is with its 601 places an ideal place to attend Theatrical representations . As for the third, the Studio, also dedicated to hosting theatre troops, is much smaller but offers an intimate experience and close to the actors with its 230 seats.

In addition to the shows offered to the curious, they can also visit the place to admire the splendid interior decoration of the theatre, which includes frescoes and bronzes of Bourdelle, a dome decorated by Maurice Denis just before the opening of the place, as well as numerous decorative paintings from the painters Vuillard, Roussel or Marval.

5. The Opera-Comique

Created under Louis XIX at the beginning of the 18th century, it is with the prestigious Comédie-Française and the Royal Academy of Music one of the oldest French theatre institutions.

Located at 5, rue Favart, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, the prestigious Salle Favart – another name of the Opera-Comique – has been a public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature since 2004: this legal contract established by the French State allows instead of hosting numerous performances of famous lyrical works, which makes the place one of the best places to see an opera show in Paris. In addition, the performances in question are characteristic of highlighting both baroque operas and contemporary works , but also pieces from the historical repertoire of the Opera-Comique and original French and also foreign creations.

The building is quite remarkable and was refurbished for nearly two years: when the Favart Hall was reopening, it was to better allow the National Theatre of the Comic Opera to propose new creative projects, artistic innovations and major cultural pieces.

If you don’t know where to see an opera show in Paris, go for a tour!

6. The nursery

The nursery is a human-sized cultural space: with only 350 seats, you feel like you are an integral part of the show! While the main purpose of the nursery is to accommodate plays and theatre shows, it is nevertheless possible to discover some performances of opera, especially contemporary, featuring theatre performances. experienced playwrights or novices .

Open and accessible to all audiences, this is undoubtedly an excellent place to see an opera show in Paris with ease.

7. Chaillot National Theatre

It is one of the six French national theatres: with three rooms of 1250, 420 and 80 seats, Chaillot National Theatre is one of the most prestigious in France. If you are told, it is that the latter, in addition to the magnificence of the place, focuses almost all the representations given there on dance shows, ballets and classical or contemporary operas . The smallest room is even exclusively devoted to studies, innovative creations and works aimed at breaking the codes of the opera!

You will have understood it, there are for all tastes at the national theatre of Chaillot: go there to enjoy a pure moment of grace!

8. The theatre of the Rond-Point

The theatre of the Rond-Point is normally dedicated to comedies, dramas and other contemporary theatrical works, but also welcomes a few contemporary opera shows : it must be said that the 760 seats with a wide and varied audience allow us to discover many lyrical and sometimes hollow wonders, but always interpreted by troops with a solid scenic experience.

This theatre is animated by a joyous wind of artistic lightness: on the contrary, it offers fun, incongrus and sometimes subversive performances, not to miss when looking for an opera show in Paris.