Outside the Opéra

Way back in September, during the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, Maggie, Robert, and I happened upon a ragtag group of young musicians blasting pop and folk tunes from the steps of the Opéra Garnier.

Who were these musicians, we wondered, and what was their deal? We never found out.

Fast forward to last week, when I saw, in the same place, a strikingly similar group of young musicians blasting similarly pop- and folk-oriented tunes. Were they the same group? Answering this question requires a close-up comparison:

At first the orange and green threw me off - did they just change clothes? Then I realized that the line-up is slightly different, with clarinets in the second group, and a euphonium in the first group. This is the stuff that musicology is made of - doing that newspaper puzzle that asks "what are the 5 differences between these two images," just, you know, music-related.

Anyway, now that we've established they're probably not the same groups, we can pose further questions (this is also something musicologists love to do): just how many groups do play on the steps of the Opéra Garnier? Do you need a permit for that? When's the next time either of these groups will play, so I can be sure to bring my trusty audio recorder?

And finally, does either group need another clarinetist? I'd totally do it, if only to be able to say that I played at the Paris Opera . . .