A few months after turning 80, Patrice Bart passed away on 6 October 2025.

The Bayerische Staatsballett owes Patrice Bart the choreographic design of its nationally and internationally acclaimed production of the ballet classic La Bayadère, which premiered in March 1998. Bart saw this production as a ‘re-lecture’; in his own words, he was obsessed with paying homage to tradition while still bringing the production into the modern era. He saw Minkus' music as the starting point and stimulus for his choreographic thinking and action, and musicality was also extremely important to him on the part of the dancers. Bart saw the creative process as a series of encounters, so it was only logical that he remained in contact with the company after the premiere in 1998 and worked personally with the dancers, some of whom were new, on the occasion of the revival in 2023. La Bayadère has been performed over a hundred times in Munich and was most recently shown five times at the Teatro Real in Madrid in May and June 2024.

Patrice Bart's name is also associated with other great ballet classics. He revived Giselle for both the Opéra national de Paris (1991) and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1996). He also created a new Coppélia (1996) for Paris. Finally, at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, he created the triptych Swan Lake (1997), The Nutcracker (1999) and Romeo and Juliet (2002). As a choreographer and in his many years as ballet master and ‘Associé à la Direction de la Danse’ at the Opéra national de Paris, he played a decisive role in ensuring that the precious heritage of classical ballet could be passed on from generation to generation.

The Bayerische Staatsballett extends its deepest condolences to his family and will honour the memory of Patrice Bart.