New World Orchestra’s musicians were left shocked after French police targeted their peaceful gathering with teargas during a demonstration in Paris last week. As riot police encircled Place de la République, they began lobbing teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators, but the conductor Étienne Jarrier and his orchestra continued to play.
The Incident
The musicians of the Orchestre du Nouveau Monde (ONM), co-founded by Jarrier in 2022, played on even as the crowd around them thinned and teargas filled the air. It was only when Jarrier noticed that the musicians were being directly targeted that he ordered them to stop.
““There were teargas canisters landing in the double bass and music stand cases, and starting fires the musicians had to stamp out,” Jarrier told the Guardian.
The ONM is known for blending classical music with activism, focusing on social and climate justice. The orchestra describes itself as “anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, environmentalist and committed to de-growth.” Their mission includes raising awareness of classical music among younger audiences, moving away from its traditional association with the “white bourgeois and elderly.”
Activism Through Music
In the past, the orchestra has performed in various politically charged locations, including:
- At the foot of a melting Alpine glacier in 2022.
- Outside the headquarters of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in 2024, performing a parody of an anthem associated with Marshal Pétain’s Vichy regime.
- Forming a welcoming committee for Marine Le Pen, the Eurosceptic RN leader, while playing the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
