Florian Hollard, son of Michel Hollard, is an orchestra conductor. During the Second World War he was a literature student of Georges Pompidou, the future French President. After his father was arrested by Hitler’s police, he joined the Resistance and took part in the Liberation of Paris. Founder-conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Tours, as well as choirmaster of the Oratoire du Louvre, he has been the guest conductor of numerous orchestras both at home and abroad, notably Paris, Berlin, New York, London and Tokyo.
To celebrate the historic fall of the Berlin Wall, 250 French and German performers in fraternal union interpreted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Florian Hollard. The “Ode to Joy”, the mystical and flamboyant conclusion to the masterpiece, had officially become the Hymn of the European Union. An international audience at the Palais des Congrès de Paris gave a standing ovation to the symphony, the interpreters and to the renewed brotherhood of man.