The Swiss government’s measures against the spread of the coronavirus epidemic are currently restricting non-essential travelling. In these circumstances, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne is unable to travel to Japan to perform The Ninth Symphony with The Tokyo Ballet from April 25 to 29, 2020.

Concerned for the safety and health of all, the Japan Performing Arts Foundation and the Béjart Ballet Foundation have collectively agreed to postpone these performances until next year, from April 29 to May 2, 2021 in Tokyo.

Ticket holders are encouraged to directly contact the Japan Performing Arts Foundation.

Both partners are aware of the inconveniences this will cause and thank the audience for their understanding and support.

Gathered for the last time in 2014 for the Tokyo Ballet’s 50th anniversary, the two companies will be reunited for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony choreographed by Maurice Béjart, at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, from April 25 to 29, 2020.

“The Ninth Symphony is not only a ballet but a profound human involvement in a work that belongs to all humanity and that is not just performed and sung here, but danced.” – Maurice Béjart

Five years after the triumphant performances of The Ninth Symphony in Tokyo, Gil Roman, the Artistic Director of Béjart Ballet Lausanne, revisits the choreographer’s manifesto composed on Beethoven’s masterpiece, whose 250th birth anniversary will be celebrated: from April 25 to 29, 2020, 350 artists from all over the world will present The Ninth Symphony at the Bunka Kaikan, in Tokyo.

The Béjart Ballet Lausanne, the Tokyo Ballet, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Opera Choir, under the direction of Toshiaki Umeda will perform this artistic manifesto for a united humanity. Culminating with Schiller’s Ode to Joy, it strengthens the bond between peoples to defend them against the madness of the world.

Since its premiere at the Cirque Royal in Brussels in 1964, The Ninth Symphony has travelled the world, from the Olympic Games in Mexico City (1968) to the Verona Arena and Piazza San Marco in Venice in 1975, or from Tokyo’s NHK for the Tokyo Ballet’s 50th anniversary in 2014 to Lausanne the following year.

The genesis of this exceptional show was the focus of a movie, dancing Beethoven (2016), by the Spanish director Arantxa Aguirre.

*Beware of the grey ticketing market: Béjart Ballet Lausanne cannot be held responsible for any purchase of show tickets outside the ticket offices officially mentioned on the website.