Lang Lang, Gautier Capuçon, Khatia Buniatichvili… Classical stars at the Hôtel de Ville to celebrate July 14

A few days before the opening of the Olympic Games, the show will not take place this year at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, but on the forecourt of the Hôtel de Ville. It will be followed by the traditional fireworks display, which will be launched from the Champ-de-Mars.

The Paris concert returns on July 14, the national holiday, for its 12th year. Held until now at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the traditional classical music show will exceptionally take place this year on the forecourt of the Hôtel de Ville.

This change is explained by the organization of the Olympic Games and coincides with the arrival of the Olympic flame and the lighting of the cauldron, scheduled for around 11:10 p.m. Who are the guest musicians and stars? What will we be able to listen to this year? Who will host the concert? Franceinfo tells you everything about this special evening.

This concert is now one of the biggest classical music events, broadcast in several countries and followed by tens of millions of viewers. The evening, presented by Stéphane Bern, will be broadcast from 8:45 p.m. on France 2 and the digital platforms of france.tv.

At the foot of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, the Orchestre national de France, the Maîtrise and the Chœur de Radio France, under the direction of Cristian Măcelaru, will accompany artists and soloists and perform classics from the heritage, Hungarian March from Berlioz to Fire Bird by Stravinsky, and works selected around the theme of Olympism.

Renaud Capuçon, who was also one of the artists chosen to carry the Olympic flame, will once again be at the Bastille Day celebrations. While the second volume of his album dedicated to cinema was released a few months ago, the violinist will remain in the world of the 7th art by performing the beautiful theme from the film Modern times composed by Charlie Chaplin, Smile.

Also present is his younger brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, whose latest album (released at the end of 2023) is dedicated to Paris (with works from Rameau to Cosma, including Offenbach, Debussy and Ravel) in the run-up to the Paris Olympic Games. This July 14, he will explore, among others, with pianist Jérôme Ducros, the notes of the masterpiece of French song by Joseph Kosma, Dead leaves. In a few days, Gautier Capuçon will then continue his tour of free concerts. A summer in Francee, inaugurated in 2020.

Also taking to the stage at the Concert de Paris will be guitarists Matthieu Chedid and Thibault Cauvin, authors of a joint gem, released on June 7, The Mirror Houran album in which they cover songs by -M-, but also classical pieces or legendary pieces of French song.

Finally, on the piano side, we will be able to listen to Lang Lang, the most French of Chinese stars whose latest album is dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, who will play Rachmaninov this time, as well as the Franco-Georgian Khatia Buniatishvili, who has also become a world star and whose next album in October will be dedicated to Mozart. She will notably join the Capuçon brothers for the Round alla Polacca by Beethoven.

Also joining this great musical celebration will be mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet, who recently played Angelina in the Cenerentola by Rossini at the Capitole Opera, and who will sing an aria by Carmen by Bizet, as well as the soprano Nadine Sierra, noted in La Traviata by Australian director Simon Stone in January 2024. She will also perform a duet of an aria from Verdi’s opera, A day, happy, eternalas well as an air of Romeo and Juliet by Gounod.

Another great voice present on July 14th is that of the Egyptian soprano Fatma Said who has no equal in exalting scores that cross Western music and orientalism. Also noteworthy is the presence of the Samoan tenor Pene Pati, who has been in demand since a famous replacement at short notice in December 2021 in a Romeo and Juliet memorable. He will notably perform the famous air of Nessun Dormaof the Turandot by Puccini.

After the concert, theThe City of Paris fireworks display will be held on the Champ-de-Mars, launched from the Eiffel Tower. Last year, 70,000 people gathered to watch it.