Olivier Latry was in Vienna, making a recording with the brass ensemble of the Vienna Philharmonic, when his phone lit up with an SMS from a friend in Paris. “Olivier, the Notre-Dame is on fire” it said, accompanied by an image of the horrifying scene. “Every five minutes he would send another picture. It was awful, just awful,” says Latry.

The scene was especially heartbreaking for Latry, one of the titular organists of the Grand Organ of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Appointed in 1985, aged just 23, he was the last person to play the large symphonic pipe organ on 14 April, 2019. It was Palm Sunday – the day before the fire took hold. 

Olivier Latry. Photo © Deyan Parouchev

Miraculously, the Grand Organ, dedicated in 1868, survived the flames. Located under the west rose window, it was covered in soot and damaged by humidity. Its five keyboards, pedalboard, 109 stops and 8,000 pipes, some up to 10 metres high, needed expert cleaning. With each piece meticulously restored, the instrument has been reassembled and is currently being tuned and voiced in preparation for the reopening of the cathedral in December. The...