Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

On the avenue Montaigne stands the building that taught Paris what reinforced concrete could do. Opened in April 1913, it was begun to a scheme by Henry van de Velde and carried through by Auguste and Gustave Perret, whose frame is left to speak plainly for itself; Antoine Bourdelle cut the bas-reliefs of the façade, Maurice Denis painted the dome, Édouard Vuillard and Jacqueline Marval the panels, Ker-Xavier Roussel the stage curtain. Seven weeks after the opening, on 29 May, the Ballets Russes gave the first performance of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" here, and the uproar in the auditorium became the most retold evening in twentieth-century music. Debussy's "Jeux" and Fauré's "Pénélope" also had their premieres in that same first season. The main hall seats a little over 1,900, with a smaller theatre and a studio above it.

It is now among the busiest platforms in Paris. The Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre Lamoureux appear regularly, the Vienna Philharmonic keeps its French residency here, and staged and concert opera runs beside an international series of singers' recitals — a programme that has made the house, for many visitors, the principal alternative to the two opera theatres of the city.