The portrait of Pierre Audi projected at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. (Credit: Sylviane Zehil)
The Park Avenue Armory, that brick-and-steel vessel he helped transform into one of New York’s boldest and most visionary cultural spaces, was turned into a sanctuary of light on Sept. 15 for a vibrant farewell to Pierre Audi.
Not just a tribute, but a radiant celebration — a festival for a life whose brilliance continues to shine far beyond his passing on May 3.
A constellation of tributes
For months, the world has honored Audi in a constellation of memorial ceremonies: Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence, and now New York. Each city, in its own way, has sought to express its gratitude to the man who redrew the international cultural map.
In Amsterdam, on June 22, Dutch National Opera honored the man who, for three decades, had led the house to its summit and dared bold, groundbreaking productions.
In Aix-en-Provence, on July 6, the Festival d'Aix lyrique celebrated the man of open horizons, the architect of a stage broadened to new voices.
And on Sept. 15, New York, through the Armory, honored the American chapter of his adventure — this monumental venue where his imagination had found its true home.
Together, these three ceremonies form a global farewell, a chorus of arts and memories. In the New York hall, a hundred close friends, among them his wife Marieke Audi-Peters and their two children, Sophia and Alexander.
"There is still the Birgit Nilsson Prize ceremony in Stockholm, but that is not aimed at him personally, but at the festival he directed," Marieke Audi-Peters told L’Orient-Le Jour, adding that she would attend "accompanied by a festival delegation to accept this prize in Pierre’s name."
Before Amsterdam, Aix, and New York, there was London — the first spark. In 1979, at just 22, Audi founded the Almeida Theatre in Islington, reviving a forgotten Victorian building and turning it into a vibrant hub for experimental drama and chamber opera.
The Almeida became a beacon for the avant-garde, and Pierre, a builder of possibilities, a visionary willing to take all risks.
The ritual at the Armory: Light and music
In New York, his photographs watched over the ceremony like icons of light. At the main entrance, a large portrait opened the passage like a gateway into his presence, while two others on either side of the ceremony hall seemed to project his discreet gaze onto the assembly, guiding this communion of art and memory.
The memorial, with a grave elegance, opened with words from Adam R. Flatto and Amandanda J. T. Riegel, directors of the Park Avenue Armory committee.
Then music, the language he had served all his life, took over: Piano, tenor, baritone, and soprano uniting to offer Pierre Audi luminous tremolos, raising the audience between intimate emotion and professional admiration.
Tenor Matthew Polenzani, accompanied by Ken Noda, performed "Un’aura amorosa" ('a loving breeze') from Mozart’s "Così fan tutte" ('All women do the same').
Soprano Barbara Hannigan, with Stephen Gosling on piano, evoked a musical memory before delivering a vibrant personal tribute. Then baritone Jarrett Ott, with Cris Frisco, embodied "Lilacs" by Jennifer Higdon.
The tributes followed, woven with music: Rebecca Robertson, Michael Lonergan, then Peter Sellars by video, followed by Jason Mora at the piano, who brought out the smooth harmonies of Billy Strayhorn’s "Lotus Blossom."
The finale: A ritual choreographed by Marina Abramović and Urs Schönebaum, suspending the air as if offering something to the soul of the departed.
Michael Lonergan: An indefatigable presence
Michael Lonergan, long-time companion, recalled how Audi was a living energy, a constant thread stretched toward others: "WhatsApp was his umbilical cord to managers, producers, and artists.
Since 2016, I received messages every morning: "What do you have to report? Any news? Where are we with this production?" Audi never rested. He never stopped searching, asking questions, big or small," he said, his voice cracking.
He also evoked his visionary insight, notably with Richard Jones’s "The Hairy Ape": "He knew something big was brewing. And he was right: New York had never seen such boldness."
A 'cosmic light' for his wife
Finally, Marieke Audi-Peters spoke, simple and dignified, with measured poetry, confessing the staggering shock she felt at the sudden news of her husband’s death in China: "Everything was extraordinary with Pierre. Living with him, loving him and being loved by him was extraordinary… His departure was the most extraordinary and unexpected thing that could happen to him, or to us."
She spoke of this multifaceted man, bearer of a "cosmic light," and of the greatness offered by the Armory: "Pierre excelled at pushing others to think big and to create something special for the Drill Hall."
With a moving image, she confided: "In the days following his death in Beijing, I opened all the doors and windows of the abbey he had restored in Tuscany, so he could wander freely in his favorite refuges. For three nights, every light in the space stayed on so he would feel carried by this light." She added: "We imagined a unique ritual with Marina Abramović, for my children Sophia and Alexander, and especially for Pierre. Dust returns to dust, and light to light."
Marina Abramović’s ritual: Meaning and silence
The high point was this sensory experience devised by Marina Abramović, the "grandmother of performance," and Urs Schönebaum.
From a screen, she guided the audience in a meditation of the senses: Tabbouleh, Turkish coffee, cigar, a cloth infused with his favorite perfume. Blindfolded, participants connected, through smell and taste, to the terrestrial and joyful flesh of Pierre.
Then, in a vibrating silence, she invited them to stand, walk in single file, wearing headphones, into a darkened room, before the light spread out, symbolizing the passage from shadow to the beyond. A collective walk, poetic and spiritual.
A life of art, a light that endures
Born in Beirut in 1957, Audi traversed continents: Paris, London, Amsterdam, Aix, New York. His productions, from Monteverdi to Messiaen, from Wagner to contemporary composers, blended tradition and radicalism. But his genius, beyond the works, lay in building artistic communities, inspiring others, transforming spaces into places of life.
The Park Avenue Armory, that night, became a fragment of his oeuvre, far more than a memorial. A space where memory and creation merged, where light and sound combined to remind us that Pierre Audi, even in absence, continues to shine.
