For its first season, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées hosted Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, staging The Rite of Spring with music by Igor Stravinsky, choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) received its world première on the stage of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on May 29th, 1913, thus making it the celebrated venue of one of the most famous of all classical music riots.

100 years since the world première, on May 29th, 2013, the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev will perform the original version of The Rite of Spring choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky (reconstructed by Millicent Hosdson and Kenneth Archer in 1987). In the same evening, the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra will perform another ballet created for the Ballets Russes — Prokofiev’s Prodigal Son (Le Fils prodigue), choreographed by George Balanchine and premiered in May 1929 at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris, as well as the world premiere (which will happen in 2013) of a new ballet by a famous German choreographer Sasha Alexandra Waltz. This triple bill will be repeated on May 30th & 31st, 2013.

The original version of The Rite of Spring choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky will be presented at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg this July, at the close of the 20th Stars of the White Nights Music Festival.

On June 1st, 2013, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Mariinsky Opera Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev will present a concert performance of Hector Berlioz’s first opera Benvenuto Cellini. The story is loosely based on the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The opera is quite challenging technically and rarely performed. It is not part of the standard operatic repertoire. The overture to the opera often played in orchestral programs, as well as the concert overture Le carnaval romain that Berlioz composed from material in the opera. Valery Gergiev is known for his great passion to Berlioz’s music and conducted a wide variety of his works with various orchestras at different venues.