Everything was already in the title Dying on stage by Dalida, which resonates when the Springboks lead (29-25) against our Blues at the end of the match… This weekend the Philharmonie de Paris organized, on the occasion of the quarter-finals Rugby World Cup final, free concert matches. For the four weekend matches, including the French XV match on Sunday evening, a troupe of musicians and dancers were mobilized for a unique show of its kind: a rugby match broadcast on the big screen, hosted by an orchestra of nearly 70 instrumentalists and a catalog of songs for all ages.
The conductor, Nicolas Simon, had a small control screen in front of him broadcasting the match. “I don’t decide which pieces we are going to play but, with this screen in front of the music stand, if there is something to accentuate, I am able to do it, so that a symptomatic musical passage appears on an essay for example » he explained to AFP.
After the first three matches of the weekend, the Philharmonie de Paris hoped to finish in style with the highly anticipated meeting between the XV of France and the South Africans on Sunday evening. Theme from Star Wars, the Andante from the prelude to Carmen and even Waka Waka from Shakira, the Elektra orchestra tried everything to push Fabien Galthié’s men to victory, in vain.
Despite the defeat, the event appears to have been a resounding success, as evidenced by the speed with which places were reserved (less than fifteen minutes) for the four matches of the weekend.
