It is to the great organ maker Rieger that we owe the imposing, symphonic machinery installed in the Philharmonie, with its some 7000 pipes hand-made according to designs developed with a panel of organists. The inauguration of this monumental instrument will allow its sound and performance to be judged, first alone (with an improvisation by Thierry Escaich) and then with the orchestra (Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony).