“The First Night of the Proms began with a moving tribute to those who lost their lives in the Nice truck attack,” reports Sarah Ann Harris in Saturday’s (7/16) Huffington Post. “The BBC Symphony Orchestra was originally billed to play Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture to open Proms season.… But following the horrific attack on the French city of Nice, which saw at least 84 killed and 202 injured, there was a change of plan. Instead of Romeo and Juliet, the orchestra played ‘La Marseillaise,’ the French national anthem. Many audience members stood in remembrance as the tune was played and responded with rapturous applause at its conclusion. Proms director David Pickard told the BBC that the decision was taken on Friday morning to change the opening number to the anthem. The attack took place as crowds gathered along the Promenade des Anglais to celebrate Bastille Day.” A separate article on Friday (7/15) at Chicago classical radio station WFMT notes that the Youth Orchestra of the Mediterranean, which recently traveled from Nice to perform in France’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, will “press on … with their upcoming concerts at the festival and on tour elsewhere in France, Croatia, and Slovenia,” according to Emilie Delorme, director of the Aix festival’s Académie européenne de musique.
Posted July 18, 2016
Pictured: The BBC Symphony Orchestra plays “La Marseillaise” in tribute to the victims of last week’s attack in Nice, France, at the opening of the BBC Proms season at Royal Albert Hall.
