Aix-en-Provence's Lyrical Art Festival director, Pierre Audi, has tragically passed away.
Former Artistic Maverick, Pierre Audi, Passes Away at 67
In a heart-wrenching turn of events, the artistic world has lost a trailblazer, Pierre Audi. On May 2, 2023, the French-Lebanese stage director breathed his last in Beijing, leaving a void that can hardly be filled. The news was shared by the Aix-en-Provence Festival of Lyric Art, alongside the Ministry of Culture.
The Aix Festival conducted an outpouring of grief, stating, "It's with immense sadness that we have learned of the sudden demise of Pierre Audi, which occurred in the early hours of May 2. The world of creative art loses a great visionary and institution leader."
Culture Minister Rachida Dati echoed the sentiment on Twitter, expressing, "Pierre Audi had devoted his life to artistic creation and had profoundly revolutionized the language of opera."
This Beirut-native impresario, who took the helm as the general director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2019, had redefined the boundaries of opera and theatre. He was reappointed to the post in late 2021, with a term running until 2027.
In the 1980s, Audi stood as a catalyst for opera outside conventional walls. He bought fame by initiating the Almeida Theatre in a deserted London building, transforming it into a haven for artistic ingenuity, directing its International Festival of Contemporary Music until 1989.
His journeys subsequently led him to the Dutch National Opera, where he established several of his productions collaborating with artists like Georg Baselitz and Anish Kapoor. He spent nearly three decades in this post. In 2015, he embarked on a new artistic voyage as the artistic director of the Park Avenue Armory in New York, a multi-disciplinary space of 5,000 square meters, hosting installations (Christian Boltanski) and monumental productions by Ivo van Hove or Ariane Mnouchkine.
At the Aix Festival, Audi staged the premiere of Samir Odeh Tamimi's The Arab Apocalypse in 2021 and had plans to mount Puccini's Tosca at the Paris Opera by the end of 2025. "He deeply believed in the future of lyric art (and musical theatre), an art form that he believed was uniquely capable of overcoming all crises," the Aix Festival shared.
Pierre Audi's illustrious career was marked by artistic risks, visionary interpretations, and a passion for both historical awareness and new music, extending and redefining the operatic repertoire. His influence will be forever etched in the annals of European and international opera scenes.
His contributions to the world of opera and theatre transcended conventional boundaries, making him a significant figure in the realm of culture. In the name of artistic innovation, he cultivated spaces that transformed into hubs of entertainment, always pushing the envelope and redefining the language of opera.
