Article by Maximilian Serrermann

An evening at the Paris Philharmonic

Following André Markowicz’s article published last week on the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert at the Philharmonie de Paris, we received this first-hand account from a member of the audience. He recounts, from his seat, the music and the emotions of that evening on November 6, 2025: drones flying over the building, interruptions, smoke bombs, the Israeli national anthem as an encore. Through Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, this account questions what a concert can achieve when current events intrude on the very heart of the listening experience.

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Thanks to the Paris office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation for their cooperation in the design of the magazine’s website.