The FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show keeps getting bigger. Variety has exclusively learned that the event will now also include members of the New York Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, who will jointly perform a tribute to Venezuela in the wake of its recent devastating earthquakes.
Gustavo Dudamel, the outgoing LA Phil music and artistic director who takes over as music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic in September, will conduct the orchestra — marking the first time members of the NY Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra have performed together.
Dudamel and the orchestras join a packed lineup for the 11-minute halftime show, which will take place on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium. FIFA and Global Citizen partnered to stage the event, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin curating the show (in his role as international curator of the Global Citizen Festival) and Done+Dusted producing. Among those also set to perform: Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS, Shakira, Burna Boy, PS22 Chorus with Coldplay and the Muppets.
“I think this is going to create this absolutely unforgettable moment,” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans said of the orchestral maneuver. “It’s such a timely, and important, and urgent tribute to the resilience of Venezuela following the earthquakes. It’s all focused on this urgent need for world leaders to step up in support of Venezuela. And having these two legendary orchestras together for the first time in history, I think also reinforces that message of global unity and love that is woven throughout the whole halftime show, and is the essence of Chris Martin’s creative direction here.”
Evans credited Martin with bringing Dudamel, the NY Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra on board.
“He is a huge fan of Gustavo, and he reached out to Gustavo, and Gustavo himself was so passionate about bringing these two orchestras together for this historic moment,” Evans said. “It’s a real credit to Gustavo. I should give him huge props for this. It’s obviously a really expensive undertaking to pull this off, and all the artists perform for free. And so, the fact that he rallied to get additional support so we could bring over the Simon. Bolivar Symphony Orchestra from Venezuela to participate was a credit to him. He went above and beyond.”
Speaking of going above and beyond, here’s the tricky part: The orchestra members will have to perform standing up, as the halftime show is extemely limited with what it can bring onto the pitch. Keeping the pitch (aka, the field) in pristine condition is job one for Done+Dusted, which means — unlike the recent Super Bowl Halftime Show with Bad Bunny — there can’t be any heavy, elaborate staging.
“There’s been months and months of collaboration with FIFA about our approach to the show, how we can bring it in and how we can take it out and leave it exactly as we find it,” said Done+Dusted partner/executive producer Guy Carrington. “Let’s be honest, the match is the most important thing here. Everybody is there for the World Cup final. We’re there to create an entertaining show, but that can’t be at the expense of the game. And so, a lot of our time has been spent working with FIFA on lightweight camera systems, how we look at different wheels that go on our carts, down to the shoes that people wear. All of it has been very carefully planned and carefully choreographed.
“A lot of our rehearsal time is spent on how we bring this thing in quickly but safely and without damaging any of that grass,” he added. “It’s a huge undertaking, and a lot of time and effort is going into that level of detail to make sure that when the players come out for the second half, they’re playing on a pitch exactly the same as it was when they left it.”
Done+Dusted executive producer/director Hamish Hamilton — who just earned an Emmy nom for directing the Bad Bunny halftime show at the Super Bowl — has been busy testing a field in Miami, including how to lay out a big, protective pitch cover, as well as examining the impact to the grass when people and cameras run across it.
“As you know, I’ve I’ve done a few Super Bowls over the years, and the grass impact risk assessment that we’ve done on this is significantly greater than we’ve done at the NFL,” Hamilton said. “The NFL are obviously very protective, but this is a whole new level. We took a whole team down to Miami to a section of grass. We took down partial field cloths. We took down camera systems that we had literally stripped everything off. We’ve re-engineered. We’ve changed the wheels. We’ve used lighter cameras. We’ve used lighter lenses. Literally every bit of the technical equipment has been looked at. The number of people, what they’re wearing, how they move, how much time they spend in a particular place, it’s all been carefully monitored. The number of times we are allowed to run out onto the grass, the amount of time that we spend on the grass in rehearsal. It’s a new, challenging and fun process.”
Carrington called it “a bit of an exploration in restraint. Our inclination is always to try and go big, but this time it’s been about crafting a performance that feels organic to the moment. There isn’t the time, there isn’t the space to be building a huge amount of stuff. And that wasn’t really the concept from the start.”
The halftime show is meant to benefit the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is working to raise $100 million to expand access to education and football for children across the world. Evans said support for Venezuela has become a part of the goal as well.
“We’ve been encouraging world leaders from great football nations, such as France, Germany, and Spain, to step up in in their commitments to support Venezuela as part of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund,” he said. “We’ve got some great news that Canada is on board. We’ve had also Portugal step up, but we want President Macron, now that France is doing so well. President Macron has to take a leadership position because his own nation is absolutely doing brilliantly in in in the World Cup. This is the moment for the government to step up as well.”
Carrington credited Martin for pushing the theme of the halftime show to be “about bringing people together and bringing the greatest artists together, bringing the world together. And so, as opposed to a traditional Super Bowl halftime show, this has been about multi-artists and them collaborating and sharing that performance,” he said. “Chris’s big belief is that this should feel like it’s representative of the world. It’s about creating a moment that feels organic to the tournament. And all of the talent was really on board with the vision from the start.”
Carrington and Hamilton don’t want to give away more of the surprises on Sunday’s halftime show, but Hamilton did hint, “there’s a great message at the end, and let’s leave it at that. For me, actually, putting this show together with people from all over the world, with artists from all over the world, definitely mirrors the joy that the World Cup gives. And you know, there’s a great moment at the end.”
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