By Alkis Karmpaliotis
Founder of AppreciateOpera.org
On August 11, superstar tenor Benjamin Bernheim performed at the closing ceremony of the Olympics, singing a new adaptation of Gabriel Fauré's "Hymne à Appolon" alongside Swiss pianist Alain Roche on a piano suspended mid-air.
The piece, based on late-19th-Century texts, was performed at the first modern Olympic Games in Paris in 1984, as the organizers were looking for songs to use as the official Olympic anthem.
Bernheim recently performed in Romeo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera to great acclaim, and will return next season as the title character in Le Contes d'Hoffman.
My name is Alkis Karmpaliotis, and I'm a senior at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. I founded AppreciateOpera.org in 2019, and you can support my work by becoming a member and reading some of my other articles!
Really appreciate out articles, insight and inspiration!