Seventeen giant screens will allow visitors to immerse themselves in “Zidane’s breath” to original music by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai.
From October, the Philharmonie de Paris will host a sound and visual exhibition around Zinedine Zidane and “match-concerts” on the occasion of the Rugby World Cup which will take place this autumn in France.
Zidane, a portrait of the 21st century, originally a film released in theaters in 2006, immerses the visitor in the heart of a football match between Real Madrid and Villarreal, filmed in 2005 in real time at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid, indicates the Philharmonie in its programming 2023/2024 unveiled on Tuesday March 28.
From round ball to oval ball
Seventeen giant screens will broadcast, “by spatializing them, specific sound content” inviting the visitor to dive into “Zidane’s breath, his inner voice, the noise of clashes on the pitch, the chanting of the supporters, the sounds of the clash of bodies and the kicking of the ball”. All paired with original music by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai.
The Philharmonie will also organize “match-concerts” during the Rugby World Cup: the matches broadcast live on the big screen will be accompanied by musical interludes and the recreation of the musical atmosphere of the stadiums. As every year, the most prestigious orchestras and soloists will jostle in the Pierre Boulez room, and Philip Glass, one of the most influential contemporary composers, will be honoured.
A new edition of the “La Maestra” competition, dedicated to female conductors, concerts devoted to “yesterday’s composers”dance performances and the first festival dedicated to children are also on the program.
A must-see but lacking place
Inaugurated in 2015 in the east of Paris and become a reference in terms of acoustics, the room will launch “La Balise”, a local radio antenna involving young students or people working around the building.
Despite rising attendance, the Philharmonie recorded a deficit of 2.5 million euros in 2022, widened by inflation in the cost of energy (+40%), the increase in the payroll (+3 .5%) and, above all, the withdrawal by the City of Paris of one million euros of its subsidy. In addition, the State has not unfrozen part of its grant set aside (1 million).
For 2023, the situation remains complicated, with a probable deficit of between 3 and 4 million euros, due to the explosion in energy costs (+240%). However, the Philharmonie expects increased support from the State and the thawing of credits, as well as an increase in the share of sponsorship by nearly 30%. Subsidies represent 60% of the cinema’s total budget (119 million euros).