Pierre Audi, the acclaimed stage director and artistic leader, has died suddenly at the age of 67 while in Beijing, where he was overseeing a revival of one of his opera productions. His death was confirmed by the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, via social media. Since 2018, Audi had served as general and artistic director of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, while also holding the role of artistic director at Park Avenue Armory in New York.
Born in Beirut in 1957 to a prominent Lebanese banking family, Audi was educated in France and the United Kingdom. He studied history at Exeter College, Oxford, where he directed a university production of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens in 1977. Just two years later, he founded the experimental Almeida Theatre in London’s Islington district. There, throughout the 1980s, he developed a reputation for adventurous programming and staged a number of bold theatrical and operatic productions. He also established a contemporary music festival at Almeida, which he led until 1989.
In 1988, Audi was appointed artistic director of Dutch National Opera, a post he held for three decades. Under his leadership, the Amsterdam-based company rose to international prominence, with Audi directing landmark productions such as Wagner’s Ring cycle, the Mozart–Da Ponte trilogy, and the complete Monteverdi operas. He expanded the company’s repertoire and reputation, bringing together historical fidelity and visual innovation.
Between 2005 and 2014, he served as artistic director of the Holland Festival, the Netherlands’ leading international performing arts festival. There, he continued to advocate for contemporary creation and interdisciplinary collaboration. In 2018, he took the helm of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, one of Europe’s most prestigious summer festivals, known for its imaginative opera productions and emphasis on new work.
Audi’s career was deeply marked by his commitment to both early and contemporary opera. He collaborated with major visual artists including Anish Kapoor, Georg Baselitz, Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron, Berlinde De Bruyckere, and Jonathan Meese, helping reshape the visual language of opera on stage. Over the course of his career, he directed nearly 40 world premieres, championing the work of composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Louis Andriessen, Pascal Dusapin, György Kurtág, Wolfgang Rihm, Hans Werner Henze, Tan Dun, and Theo Loevendie.
He directed for some of the world’s major opera houses and festivals, including the Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real, Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, and La Scala, where he staged the world premiere of Kurtág’s Fin de Partie in 2018.
A champion of new ideas and a passionate advocate for the arts, Pierre Audi leaves behind a legacy of innovation, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and enduring artistic impact on the global opera landscape.
Subscribe to our newsletter