Gerard Mortier (1943-2014)

Gerard Mortier, the Belgian opera impresario best known in this country for his brief, troubled tenure as director of the now-defunct New York City Opera, has died at 70 of pancreatic cancer.

At the time of his death, he was artistic advisor to the Teatro Real in Madrid. A leading proponent of Regieoper (director’s opera), known for staging controversial and avant-garde productions, often of non-standard repertory, Mortier also had been director of the Paris Opera and Salzburg Festival.

An obituary by Zachary Woolfe for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/arts/music/gerard-mortier-opera-visionary-dies-at-70.html?hp&_r=0