On July 19, 2026, Musicians of the New York Philharmonic, members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 802, will perform at the FIFA World Cup Final’s first-ever Halftime Show at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The orchestra members will take the field alongside members of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and will perform together as part of a star-studded show curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, marking the first time the two orchestras that shaped Gustavo Dudamel’s artistic life have shared a single stage.

Local 802 AFM President Dan Point said said, “Our members spend their whole lives mastering this craft, and on Sunday the entire world is finally going to hear what that kind of mastery actually sounds like. These are working musicians who have given everything to their art, so to watch them earn a place on a stage this enormous, and to see them share it with colleagues who traveled all the way from Venezuela to be there, is about as proud as this union ever gets. When a stadium filled with tens of thousands of people and a television audience in the billions all feel the same thing at the same moment because of what these musicians do together, that is the entire reason live music still matters.”

The halftime show will also feature Justin Bieber, Shakira, Madonna, BTS, and Coldplay.