It is with great sadness that we share the news of the sudden passing of Pierre Audi, Artistic Director of the Holland Festival from 2005 to 2014.
Pierre was a visionary who had integrated art into the very fabric of his being, offering us a window onto the world through his artistic choices. His eye for talent, unparalleled creativity, wide-ranging perspective, and deep love for the Holland Festival have been of immeasurable value. During his tenure, he expanded the festival’s international outlook, brought world-renowned artists to Amsterdam, and embraced large-scale productions—always with, as he described it, a touch of grandeur.
Among the highlights of his directorship: the world premiere of L’Amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho (directed by Audi himself); Babel by Elfriede Jelinek staged by the Wiener Burgtheater; Doctor Atomic by John Adams with a libretto by Peter Sellars; Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau with From the House of the Dead (1928) by Czech composer Leoš Janáček; Robert Wilson’s legendary production The Life & Death of Marina Abramović; Handel’s masterpiece Orlando, conducted by René Jacobs and staged by Audi; and Refuse the Hour by William Kentridge in 2012.
Other defining artists Pierre brought to the festival include Alain Platel, Christoph Schlingensief, Boris Charmatz, William Forsythe, Simon McBurney, Deborah Warner, Emilio Garcia Wehbi, Mariano Pensotti, Sulayman Al-Bassam, Walid Raad, Peter Stein (The Demons), Matthew Barney, Akram Khan, Jérôme Bel, and Pichet Klunchun.
With great dedication, Pierre devoted much of the festival's programming to key composers of the (20th-century) avant-garde. These included the complete works of Edgar Varèse performed in the Gashouder, a celebration of Louis Andriessen’s 70th birthday, and special festival weekends dedicated to Iannis Xenakis, Luigi Nono (featuring his magnum opus Prometeo in the Gashouder), and John Cage.
Under Pierre’s direction, the work of artists from beyond Europe also became a cornerstone of the festival. In 2010, the festival opened with a tribute to the Egyptian diva Oum Kalthoum, performed by Amal Maher at Carré. In 2011, the ‘Angel of Lebanon’ Fairouz made a rare appearance. In 2013, Dieudonné Niangouna presented his marathon performance Shéda. Over the years, Audi also showcased the full spectrum of traditional Japanese theatre and Chinese music theatre, including the Chinese Heroines trilogy by director Li Liuyi and composer Guo Wenjing.
His greatest artistic challenge and directorial highlight took place during the 2019 edition of the festival with the pièce de résistance aus LICHT, a never-before-seen three-day project based on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s opera cycle LICHT. It was the largest production in the history of the Holland Festival, realized in collaboration with the Stockhausen Foundation, the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, and of course, Dutch National Opera.
To the team, Pierre was an inspiring leader who set the bar high and asked incisive questions, yet was always generous and full of trust.
The memory of him—and of the editions shaped by his artistic vision—will remain indelible and never be forgotten.
Our thoughts are with his wife Marieke Peters and his children, with his colleagues at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Park Avenue Armory in New York, and with his former colleagues at Dutch National Opera. We, his colleagues and former colleagues, former Board members and Supervisory Board members of the Holland Festival, will miss him dearly.