olympics

The rousing sports-anthem melody that will underpin the opening and closing Olympics 2024 ceremonies came to Victor le Masne in roughly three seconds. “I don’t know how,” says the French pianist and composer, a longtime producer who was in the early-2010s electro-pop duo Housse de Racket. “But what’s important is the realization of this idea. It took me three seconds to find it, but maybe 18 months to finish it.”
The Paris 2024 organizers picked le Masne to compose the new theme, titled “Parade,” after he’d rearranged the French National Anthem, “La Marseillaise,” for the end of the Tokyo Games. An orchestra performed the new piece for the first time May 8, when the Olympic flame arrived in Paris on a yacht — with le Masne on piano and synthesizer. “I just decided a few days before: ‘I think I want to be in the orchestra playing my piece with the flame arriving in France,’” he recalls, by Zoom from Paris. “It was so much, but I said, ‘Let’s be even more too much.’”

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In the interview, conducted about two weeks before the games begin on July 26, le Masne, 42, discussed the creative challenges and deadline pressure involved in composing a new piece for the Olympics ceremonies — as well as his work on “La Marseillaise” and his fondness for the American “Dream Team” that won basketball gold at the 1992 Olympics.

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What’s going through your head as you’re in the orchestra, playing your own composition, watching the flame come in on a yacht?

It was a hint of the amazing emotion and the tension that I had in my mind. When the woman in charge of the broadcast was saying, “3, 2, 1,” I was like, “Wow, this is really crazy.” But I loved it, obviously. 

How long did it take you to come up with the “Parade” melody?

I just sat on my piano like I always do. I was in a group of musicians, a committee with the artistic director of the Olympics, some historians, some athletes, and we were seeing each other every week and discussing, with friends, art, sport and obviously the Olympics. Maybe twice a week. Quite easily, this melody came. … For the first time in modern Olympics, it’s not in a stadium for the opening ceremony, but in the heart of the city. The idea is, we’ll be on boats, country by country, arriving on the Seine River. I was picturing this moment. I wanted my tune, my theme, to be powerful and joyful and speak for everybody. I hope.

Did you play sports? Are you a fan of a particular sport?

I was a big basketball fan, for Barcelona 1992 — I was 10 years old and I saw the Dream Team, with Michael Jordan and all the gang. Also, I’m from the generation of Andre Agassi, with tennis. Being a musician, my professor was really hard with me, like, “You have to play music, you have to practice and practice,” [so] I didn’t have time to do as much sport as I wanted.

You’ve been composing music for the Olympics as a full-time job for the last 18 months. How has it changed your life?

For me, there’s a before and after the Olympics. The task is so huge. I’m a composer of a huge score, almost 12 hours of music. You will have in the ceremony some songs — some French songs — but I had to produce it, arrange it, work with different artists. That’s very difficult, to make everybody happy. Every country will parade on this music, so you can’t do wrong. Everybody needs to be happy with what they’re listening to. But, also, you have to be bold and unusual.

How discerning have the Paris 2024 people been, in terms of accepting your music?

They trust me, and they chose me for my ability to translate what we want into music. I’m not only the composer, I’m like a storyteller. When I present the music to them, it’s not like, “Ah, I don’t like this bass line or drum feel.” It’s more like, “Do you like the story we are telling together?” And if not, okay, I can try something else. That was an ongoing discussion with the committee. But I enjoyed a lot of freedom.

How did you get this job in the first place? Did you have to apply? Do you have a sense of how much competition there was?

In 2021, in the springtime, I had a call and was asked to try to do a new version of “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, for Tokyo 2021. It’s the moment when Tokyo stopped and they say, “Okay, next city is Paris.” I didn’t know then, but I know now, there was a competition. There were different composers. I sat on my piano, and I started to play the melody: da, da, da. I thought, “This is actually nice.” In France, we have this feeling with the anthem, a little bit with violence, it’s a military feeling. And thinking of the Olympics, it was also during Covid, so the world was going through a difficult time. I changed all the chord progressions and did a whole realization of the whole thing, like a jazz guy would do. I’m a huge fan of Stevie Wonder, and I was like, “What would Stevie do?” 

Two or three years later, I was working on a musical called Starmania, as musical director and arranger. The director of the musical had been asked to be the artistic director of the Olympics. He was like, “You already did that with the Olympics, do you want to continue with me?” If you are faced with your destiny, some crazy stuff can happen.

Will you participate in the performance of your work, during any of the ceremonies, as you did with the Olympic flame ceremony?

It’s in 15 days, but I still don’t know. I’ve got many options. I think I will not perform as a musician myself. If anything goes wrong, I have to be just checking everything. Also, me and the artistic director are not allowed in those rooms, because we created this show and they don’t want to have us if we are too emotional. I think I will be in a quiet room with a lot of screens and I will be, “Oh, my God!”

What will you do after it’s all over?

I think I will go to sleep for a little moment. I can’t commit to anything. Obviously, I will be back at work as soon as possible. I want to really experience it fully and not say, “In two weeks, I’ll be back at that.”

Do you have a prediction for who takes home the gold in basketball?

I would say … France. [Laughs] France!

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