I learned with great emotion that Jean-Louis Martinoty had left us.
The world of opera mourns the loss of one who was one of the best opera directors of his generation at an early age: it was in 1975, in Strasbourg, with Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Offenbach’s La Périchole. Jean-Louis Martinoty will then make his mark all over Europe, on stages in London, Bonn, Berlin, Karlsruhe, Innsbruck… His talent helped us rediscover the baroque repertoire alongside the great conductors and musical ensembles with whom he worked.
Some of his productions still make reference today. His Marriage of Figaro in 2001 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, repeated three times thereafter, remained in the memory of all lovers of lyrical art.
A passionate writer of music, Jean-Louis Martinoty was also one of the great directors of the Paris Opera, both guardian of the lyrical tradition and visionary open to modernity. He contributed to the opening of the opera Garnier to the contemporary repertoire. He was also one of the very first to solicit artists to imagine the sets. His passion for contemporary art was known by all.
He was one of those directors whose art consists in remaining totally at the service of the great scores, giving to see to allow us to hear them better.
I extend my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.