Death of powerful French opera chief

The Académie des Beaux-Arts has announced the death of Hugues Gall, director of the Grand Théâtre de Genève for 15 years and then of the Opéra de Paris until 2004.

Hugues, who was 84, was a patrician figure who saw his certainties swept away by the radical ideas of Gerard Mortier.

Hugues took a retirement job looking after the house and gardens of the painter Claude Monet.

UPDATE: From a tribute by the Opera de Paris: The Gall era finally saw him take over the direction of the Paris Opera, a task he carried out with great determination in a house rich in diversity, but often turbulent and conflict-ridden, which affected him. But he pursued his project, with the public as his sole compass, reminding us that “the audience is my electorate”. With 95% attendance and the average age of the public down from 56 to 44 by the end of his term, he was happy to leave the house in better shape than he found it.