“A miracle that they saved Notre-Dame”
-20 minutes more, and everything would have been lost! That’s what Olivier Latry, the organist in the 850-year-old Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, says. In a unique interview with GSOplay, he talks about the horror of seeing his workplace engulfed in flames during renovation work in April 2019.
“I was afraid all the time that something would happen during the renovation. And it did,” says Olivier Latry.
In the interview with GSOplay, Olivier Latry talks about his 35 years in the church and the reconstruction that is soon to be completed. Notre-Dame is set to reopen in December 2024, something that Sveriges Radio was the first to report during Olivier Latry’s visit to Gothenburg in October. The fire led to lead-contaminated soot penetrating the entire grand organ.
Listen to Olivier Latry perform his special favorite piece, which he recorded on the new concert hall organ in Gothenburg in October. The piece “Bolero” was written by his predecessor on the organ bench at Notre-Dame, Pierre Cochereau. Here, it is performed together with the percussionists Roger Carlsson and Walter Witick of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
