When the FIFA — Fédération Internationale de Football Association — World Cup began in 1930 in Uruguay, there was candombe and tango music in the stadium and on the streets, celebrating the event.
There was music around the pitch every four years, wherever in the world the Cup took place, including the sound of 30,000 vuvuzelas (plastic horns) and Shakira's “Waka Waka” (This Time for Africa), until the entertainment became a historic sensation in 1990.
That's when Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras, performing as the Three Tenors at the Cup in Italy, virtually overwhelmed the sport and their stadium concert became the bestselling classical album of all time. (There was also football: West Germany defeated Argentina in the final, 1–0.)
As even AI knows, the historic link between the sports event and music is long and deep.
So it will be when the five-week-long tournament comes to North America for the first time, as Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. co-host the event, beginning June 11.
Musical highlights at the opening ceremonies:
Mexico City, June 11 — Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná, and Tyla are among the headliners
Toronto, June 12 — Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Elyanna, Jessie Reyez, Michael Bublé, Nora Fatehi, Sanjoy, Vegedream, and William Prince are featured.
Inglewood, CA, June 12 — Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema, and Tyla perform.
For the first time in World Cup history, the final Cup game for the title — on July 19, in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium — will have a halftime show (familiar in American Super Bowls). Madonna, Shakira, and K-pop megastars BTS will headline the show. Jung Kook from BTS starred in the 2022 World Cup opening ceremony in Qatar.
Closer to home, Symphony San José is closing its season with a “Symphonic World Cup” program on June 6 and 7 in the California Theater. Carlos Vieu conducts the “global program” of the Helios Overture by Carl Nielsen (Denmark); Harp Concerto by Alberto Ginastera (Argentina), featuring harpist Katherine Siochi; and Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich (Russia).
Symphony San José CEO and Artistic Director Robert Massey told SF Classical Voice:
“The Bay Area has been abuzz [with the] World Cup for many months. As our region prepares to host athletes and fans from around the world, we thought it only fitting to carry this celebration of the spirit of camaraderie into the concert hall. After all, music is a universal language that transcends borders, cultures, and generations.
“Before the world’s greatest soccer players hit the pitch, Symphony San José’s all-star musicians will pay tribute to the World Cup with a program featuring some of the best music from across the globe.”
Ticketholders are invited to receptions before and after the concerts, joined by San José State University’s men’s soccer team and Jerry Nagano, who plays the Wurlitzer organ in the lobby prior to every SSJ concert.
San Francisco Symphony has no plans to mark the event, but the LA Philharmonic is hosting World Cup-themed classical programs, pairing orchestral performances of composers like Aaron Copland with elite soccer training footage to highlight the artistic rhythm shared by both.
A Philharmonic concert is scheduled in the Hollywood Bowl on July 9, titled “The Classical World Cup,” with Tito Munoz and Randall Goosby playing Adam Schoenberg’s The Art of the Goal. Schoenberg originally went to college to play soccer at Oberlin.
SF Classical Voice writer Richard Ginell in Los Angeles recalls the “whole week of events in 1994 when the Cup was held here, with the second uproariously fun Three Tenors concert at Dodger Stadium, other events, and Van Cliburn’s comeback attempt at the Bowl with the Moscow Philharmonic.”
Here is a tip for viewing World Cup matches — succor for soccer, so to speak.
For those seeking a shortcut to the complex schedule of the World Cup, here's something really simple:
Tune in every day at noon plus (variously) at 3 or 6 or 7 p.m. (PDT) on your Fox station (KTVU, ch. 2 in NorCal) or Telemundo (ch. 18) — and you will see it all.
The first US game — against Paraguay — is at 6 p.m. on June 12. The noon game on that day is Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina.
