Paris's 19th arrondissement has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this week. It's where the two perpetrators of the 'Charlie Hebdo' massacre lived, where they were first indoctrinated, and where they abandoned the car they used to escape the crime scene.
Next week, the 19th will (hopefully) receive press coverage of an altogether different kind. On January 14th - provided construction is complete - Paris will inaugurate the biggest concert hall in its history: a 2,400-seat marvel designed by Jean Nouvel. Never mind that, at EUR386 million, the concert hall cost nearly twice what it was supposed to, and that the building works have gone ahead without Nouvel's oversight. When the resident Orchestre de Paris plays its first notes at the gala premiere, it will ring in a triumphant new dawn for classical music in the city (which Paris-trained musicians such as myself can only welcome). Hopefully, also, it will ring in a time of peace.
You can read more in my Economist piece:
http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21638095-grand-new-concert-hall-opens-unfashionable-district-can-it-become-draw-distant
Next week, the 19th will (hopefully) receive press coverage of an altogether different kind. On January 14th - provided construction is complete - Paris will inaugurate the biggest concert hall in its history: a 2,400-seat marvel designed by Jean Nouvel. Never mind that, at EUR386 million, the concert hall cost nearly twice what it was supposed to, and that the building works have gone ahead without Nouvel's oversight. When the resident Orchestre de Paris plays its first notes at the gala premiere, it will ring in a triumphant new dawn for classical music in the city (which Paris-trained musicians such as myself can only welcome). Hopefully, also, it will ring in a time of peace.
You can read more in my Economist piece:
http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21638095-grand-new-concert-hall-opens-unfashionable-district-can-it-become-draw-distant
