What Might Have Been
30 May – 5 June 2026
Saturday 30 May
To Stockholm by plane
Stockholm, Berwaldhallen • Herbert Blomstedt was scheduled to conduct the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 just weeks before his 99th birthday. At Berwaldhallen, the orchestra’s remarkable home, dug into a hillside, a brass bust of the conductor had recently been unveiled. Unfortunately, poor health forced Blomstedt to withdraw, and Alan Gilbert stepped in despite being on a “conducting sabbatical”. Gilbert gave equal weight to all orchestral lines, making it difficult for a convincing musical arc to emerge and leaving some passages sounding confused. Despite its exquisite tone, the Swedish orchestra never quite shed a certain stiffness, which kept emotion largely at bay. What might have been an exceptional occasion seldom rose above a carefully polished routine.
Sunday 31 May
Back to Paris by plane
Finished reading Simon Paré-Poupard’s Ordures!, an erudite, articulate, almost sociological inside look at the world of garbage collection in Montreal. An added delight for a French reader lay in the typically Canadian lexicon, which prompted frequent moments of linguistic mirth.
Wednesday 3 June
Paris, Théâtre du Lido · The delightful stage production of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort having been extended far beyond its original schedule, I took the opportunity to catch it for the third time a couple of weeks before its final curtain. I once again fell for Michel Legrand’s intoxicating score, lovingly performed by a standout orchestra, and for the undiminished collective energy of a cast whose members — for the most part — paid affectionate homage to their original cinematic counterparts. I occasionally glanced at the English supertitles and couldn’t help feeling that some of the charm of Jacques Demy’s dialogue had been lost in translation — “perm à Nantes,” anyone?
Thursday 4 June
Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées · The Orchestre National de France under Juraj Valčuha offered a strikingly short concert consisting solely of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, with Marianne Crebassa and Daniel Behle providing the voices. I never felt fully drawn into this elusive, singular work, sometimes even kept at bay by Behle’s all-out intensity, and yet moments of grace emerged, none so powerful as in Der Abschied, which Crebassa imbued with a quietly devastating valedictory luminosity.
Friday 5 June
Paris, La Scène parisienne · A musical about an unsolved murder built around Jacques Brel songs, using tacky karaoke tracks and a cast with limited vocal chops… What could go wrong? Well, about everything. Qui a tué Madeleine ? felt largely like a “why?” play, the sort of thing the authors might have imagined while intoxicated. Why they felt compelled to share it with the world will remain a mystery.
And so, for now, the lights dim… until the next act.