LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
In 1926 the 28-year-old George Gershwin travelled to the French capital, determined to study under Maurice Ravel. Their meeting was warm, but lessons were out of the question – ‘Why should you be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?’ And so Gershwin crossed the pond again, taking the sound of a few Parisian taxi horns home as a souvenir. Two years later, he incorporated them into the orchestration of An American in Paris, a vibrant ode to life in the City of Light. The bustling boulevards, the tourist hotspots along the banks of the Seine, the cafés and Parisian nightlife: he translated all the impressions of his stay into a colourful and rhythmically irresistible rhapsody with a jazzy touch.
More than a decade later, Manuel Rosenthal, who did study under Ravel, was commissioned by the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo to compose new ballet music. During an American tour of the company, the ‘Parisian in Boston’ drew on Jacques Offenbach’s operetta La Vie parisienne to create a score that perfectly captures the light-hearted charm of the French capital by night.
Swinging rhythms, graceful waltzes, fleeting romances and champagne flowing freely until the early hours: 2027 opens with a New Year’s concert full of joie de vivre!
Create your own flexible concert subscription with your four favourite symphonic productions (or more) and you enjoy a 25% discount as well as a wide range of benefits.
20:00
Introductory talks in Dutch and French 45' before the start of the performance
Start ticket sale 16.6.2026
GEORGE GERSHWIN
An American in Paris (1928)
PAUL CRESTON
Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra, op.21 (1940)
MANUEL ROSENTHAL
Gaîté parisienne, after
La Vie parisienne d’Offenbach (1938)
20:00
ConductorALAIN ALTINOGLU MarimbaPIETER MELL AERTS
La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra
ProductionDE MUNT / LA MONNAIE Co-presentationBOZAR