France’s National Day Concert Broadcasts Live

Paris, France (July 17, 2024)—A Lawo AoIP infrastructure, including multiple mc²96 and mc²56 consoles, once again met the live sound and broadcast requirements for the twelfth edition of the Concert de Paris during France’s National Day celebrations on July 14.

This being the year of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, the traditional Concert de Paris took place on the forecourt of the Hôtel de Ville and also featured the arrival of the Olympic flame in the city. The evening was broadcast live on France 2 and france.tv and simulcast by EBU-Eurovision in over 10 countries, making it one of the world’s biggest classical music events.

For the audio coverage of the concert event, Lawo’s audio infrastructure was handled by a crew of Radio France professionals. At the FOH position, Nadège Antonini managed the orchestra mix and FOH output using a 48-fader mc²96 console, while Stéphane Thouvenin took charge of the soloists and choirs mix on a 32-fader mc²56.

Overseeing the overall production at FOH was Alice Legros, serving as the producer. Stage monitoring was managed by Stéphane Desmons and Charles Bouticourt. They operated a 32-fader mc²56 with a 16-fader extender in a two-operator configuration with two separate control surfaces.

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The setup included a redundant pair of A__UHD Core audio engines shared among the three consoles, with a redundant Ravenna network integrating FOH and stage. A central HOME management cluster connected, managed and secured all aspects of the live production environment.

Radio France also utilized an OB truck equipped with a mc²66 MkII console to produce the audio clean feed for broadcast on French radio and TV, as well as the Eurovision feed. Laurent Fracchia was responsible for the broadcast mix in the OB truck (Régie 5), with Arnaud Moral producing.

A large crowd gathered on the city hall square to attend the performances by the Orchestre National de France, the Chœur and Maîtrise de Radio France, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, and the internationally renowned opera singers and soloists including Lang Lang (piano), Nadine Sierra (soprano), Pene Pati (tenor), Gaëlle Arquez (mezzo-soprano), Khatia Buniatishvili (piano), Fatma Said (soprano), Gautier Capuçon (cello), and Renaud Capuçon (violin), with a special participation of the duo Thibault Cauvin & -M- (guitars).

The concert concluded with the arrival of the Olympic flame and the lighting of a cauldron, just before the traditional fireworks display from the Eiffel Tower and Trocadero gardens.