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Celine Dion was the queen of the Seine after a memorable performance in the opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics.
Making her comeback nearly two years after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, the Canadian singer was in fine form with a life-affirming rendition of Edith Piaf’s famous song, Hymne A L’Amour (Hymn to Love).
The opening bars were a surprise, as it was reported Dion had planned to sing another Piaf classic, La Vie En Rose.
It didn’t matter, though, as the star, dressed in a sparkling gown, moved the audience to tears with a song whose message of resilience echoed her own since her diagnosis.
Her performance was one of many high points in an epic four-hour ceremony featuring dynamic performances, ranging from lilting arias to crushing heavy metal, that touched on various aspects of France’s rich cultural heritage.
As the first boats of athletes cruised down the Seine to signal the beginning of the ceremony, they passed underneath a musician playing an accordion on a bridge.
This was a nod to Musette, a genre of music originating in Paris in the 19th century, popular in cafes and dance halls. The accordion also became the principal instrument of the French Chanson genre, whose most famed artists included Piaf and Jacques Brel.
Lady Gaga then descended a gilded staircase on the bank of the river. Trailed by a phalanx of dancers and a horn section, the US pop star paid tribute to Parisian cabaret in a rendition of Mon Truc En Plumes, a track made famous by singer Zizi Jeanmaire in the 1960s.
After the bells of Notre Dame were heard, opera met heavy metal as soprano Marina Viotti teamed up with Gojira for a pummelling cover of Ca Ira, a French song from the 18th century that is an anthem of the working class.
The snapping snares then made way for strings with Viotti, backed by the Paris Symphony Orchestra and its choir, performing a rendition of the aria La Habanera from Georges Bizet’s Carmen.
The eclecticism reached its peak when one of France's biggest pop stars, Aya Nakamura, alongside the orchestra of the French Republican Guard, performed her pulsating Afro-pop hits Pookie and Djadja.
Then, amid the pyrotechnics surrounding the Grand Palais, mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel stood on top of the building in a dress featuring the colours of the French flag to sing France's national anthem, La Marseillaise.
As the rain began to pour, more musicians turned up the heat, with French classical musical star Alexandre Kantorow performing Jeux d'eau by composer Maurice Ravel.
The song’s title translates to “water games” or “playing water”, and the shimmering and complex composition is inspired by the movement of water.
Meanwhile, on Debilly Footbridge, DJ and producer Barbara Butch provided the soundtrack for a fashion show with a set of French dance and house classics featuring works by Justice, David Guetta and Desireless.
Another genre mash-up arrived when Polish tenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski showed his moves – he was a breakdancer – before launching into a delicate version of aria Viens, Hymen from the opera Les Indes Galantes by Jean Philippe Rameau.
Meanwhile on the Seine, an Olympic music tradition was maintained with another rendition of John Lennon's Imagine.
This time, it was performed by singer Juliette Armanet, who was accompanied by Sofian Pamart on piano.
The song has become a mainstay of the Olympics. Notable renditions include Stevie Wonder during the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, Peter Gabriel in the opening ceremony of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
A more powerful sense of gravitas arrived with the rendition of the Olympic Hymn as the Olympic flag was raised at the makeshift stadium in the Trocadero. Radio France Choir and the French National Orchestra provided a spellbinding take of the anthem first heard as part of the inaugural Olympics in Athens in 1895.
It all set the scene for Dion’s majestic performance in a ceremony reminding us of France’s immeasurable contribution to global arts and culture.
