Stage director and theatrical impresario Pierre Audi died May 3, while in China for a series of international production meetings. He was 67. The news was by French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati on X, without disclosing a cause.
Mr. Audi was the renowned business mind behind the transformation of a derelict London lecture hall into one of the West End's most in-demand theatres: the Almeida Theatre. A French-Lebanese immigrant to the United Kingdom, Mr. Audi founded the experimental Almeida company in 1979, reshaping the former Salvation Army Barracks into a 325-seat haven for avant-garde artistic expression. Mr. Audi exited the company in 1989 to widen his work on the international stage.
Mr. Audi led the Dutch National Opera for 30 years, which was then followed by a decade as the artistic director of New York's Park Avenue Armory. Since 2018, he had directed France's Aix-en-Provence Festival d'Art Lyrique, struggling to balance the scales as the COVID-19 pandemic decimated an already precarious industry. His taste in operatic direction was highly valued on the international stage, leading him to work across the globe. Just last year, he was called to Brussels to direct at Th茅芒tre de la Monnaie after the original director of Wagner's four-opera Ring cycle was ousted halfway through production.
For his contributions to the artistic health of the Netherlands, Mr. Audi was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Award, and the Johannes Vermeer Award.
Mr. Audi is survived by his wife, Marieke Peters; his children, Alexander and Sophia, his brother Paul, and his sister Sherine. Information on a public memorial is forthcoming.
