A visionary and controversial figure in opera, Gerard Mortier, died Saturday at his home in Brussels. He was 70 years old. For four decades, Mortier headed some of the most important companies in the world, including the Salzburg Festival and the Paris Opera.
His obituary in The New York Times lists some of the best-known stories of controversy in Mortimer's career:
Sometimes the battlegrounds were artistic, as in the furor over his farewell production after 10 years at Salzburg, a 2001 Die Fledermaus featuring drugs and Nazi thugs.Sometimes they were financial, as when the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, which he led from 1981 to 1991, went into debt over his lavish renovation of the opera house, complete with a floor by the blue-chip American Minimalist artist Sol Le Witt.
And sometimes they were related to Mr. Mortier himself, as when he and New York City Opera parted ways in 2008, only a year and a half into his tenure.