Each July, the Concert de Paris brings a major classical music performance to the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower as part of France’s National Day celebrations, widely known internationally as Bastille Day. The free open-air concert combines a large public gathering in central Paris with live radio, television and international distribution. Its 2026 edition attracted an on-site audience estimated at more than 100,000 people, while millions more followed broadcasts reaching over 70 countries.
Radio France again used a redundant Lawo audio-over-IP infrastructure to support the event’s sound reinforcement, stage monitoring and broadcast production. The system had to serve the audience on the Champ de Mars, provide individual monitor feeds for the performers and produce separate mixes for French and international broadcasters.
Exceptionally held on July 13 rather than France’s National Day on July 14, the concert featured the Orchestre National de France, Chœur de Radio France and Maîtrise de Radio France under conductor Daniel Harding. The Maîtrise de Radio France, the broadcaster’s young vocal ensemble, also celebrated its 80th anniversary with a dedicated opening performance ahead of the main program.
Radio France built the live production infrastructure around three Lawo mc²56 consoles and two A__UHD Core audio engines. A fully redundant Ravenna network connected the consoles and processing cores, allowing the production team to route signals and share processing resources across the system. The two A__UHD Core units operated as a redundant pair, protecting the production against the failure of an individual processing engine. The network architecture also gave the engineers access to signals and resources from different consoles without requiring a separate conventional audio path for each connection.
A centralized Lawo HOME cluster managed the networked environment. HOME provided device discovery and management, connection control, security and operational monitoring across the system, giving the technical team a consolidated view of the production infrastructure. The combination of redundant processing, network paths and management services addressed the operational demands of an outdoor event carrying live sound and broadcast feeds simultaneously. It also allowed the different operating positions to work from shared audio resources while retaining responsibility for their respective mixes.
Separate controls
Radio France’s live sound team, led by Christophe Lukaszewski, used two 48-fader mc²56 consoles at the front-of-house position. Stéphane Thouvenin mixed the soloists and choirs, while Nadège Antonini handled the orchestra and managed the PA outputs under the guidance of Benoît Gaspard.
Separating the orchestra from the vocal and soloist sources gave the engineers dedicated control surfaces for the concert’s large number of inputs. Both console operators could access the common processing and routing resources available through the A__UHD Core and Ravenna infrastructure.
The 2026 production also marked the first use of Lawo’s Dynamic EQ functionality at the Concert de Paris. Dynamic equalization allows engineers to apply frequency-dependent processing in response to signal level, providing more targeted tonal control than a fixed equalizer setting.
That capability gave the front-of-house team another tool for managing the tonal balance of orchestral, choral and solo sources in an outdoor environment. The AoIP system also provided low-latency signal transport and monitoring, helping the musicians perform against monitor mixes without disruptive delay.
On stage, Tahar Boukhlifa and Charles Bouticourt operated the third mc²56 as a dual-operator monitor console. Cyprien Matheux coordinated their work as they prepared performer monitor mixes and maintained communication between the stage and production teams. The dual-operator configuration allowed both engineers to work from the same console system while concentrating on different parts of the monitor operation. Access to the shared Ravenna network also reduced the need to duplicate sources between the front-of-house and stage positions.
Monitor and broadcast operations
Radio France handled the broadcast audio separately from its OB facilities. Julien Bourdais, Laurent Fracchia and Arnaud Moral used a Lawo mc²66 MkII console to create the international mix for France 2, France Inter and distribution through the Eurovision and Euroradio networks. This separate broadcast workflow allowed the team to shape the mix for listeners and viewers rather than derive it directly from the PA feed. The approach accounted for the different acoustic and dynamic requirements of live sound, radio, television and international program distribution.
The concert brought together soprano Corinne Winters, mezzo-sopranos Marina Viotti and Farrah El-Dibany, countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Violinist Daniel Lozakovich, cellist Gautier Capuçon, pianists Hayato Sumino and Masaya Kamei and percussionist Adélaïde Ferrière also joined the Radio France ensembles.
Harding conducted the Orchestre National de France, Chœur de Radio France and Maîtrise de Radio France throughout the program. The combined forces placed orchestral instruments, massed voices and featured soloists within the same production, requiring the audio team to manage a wide range of sources and performance levels.
The evening ended with “La Marseillaise,” followed by the Eiffel Tower fireworks display. Organizers expanded the visual finale with 1,600 drones, concluding a production that combined the live concert, national radio and television coverage and international distribution from one of Paris’ most recognizable outdoor locations.
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