Pierre Bergé
Pierre Bergé was born on November 14th 1930 on the Island of Oléron – France. At a very early age, he became interested in literature and was much influenced by his contact with Jean Giono and Jean Cocteau. He remained a friend of both until their deaths and continues today to take an active interest in their work. He is the holder of the moral rights as concerns the literary and artistic work of Jean Cocteau. In 1958 he met Yves Saint Laurent. They went on to found the Couture House together in 1961. He was C.E.O. of Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture to the close in 2002. He is now the President of The Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.
He ran the Athénée-Louis Jouvet theatre where he produced Peter Schaffer’s « Equus » with François Périer, four plays by Molière (directed by Antoine Vitez), « Navire Night » by Maguerite Duras (directed by Claude Régy). Following this he founded the « Lundis Musicaux de l’Athénée » (1977) where artists such as Dame Janet Baker, Montserrat Caballe, Boris Christoff, Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Gundula Janowitz, Gwyneth Jones, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Joan Sutherland, Jessye Norman, Jose Van Dam, Shirley Verret, Jon Vickers and many others performed.
He has put on concerts by Philip Glass and John Cage, and a show at Pigall’s starring Ingrid Caven. For many years he has supported the work of Robert Wilson throughout the world and, more recently, that of Peter Brook. He was appointed goodwill ambassador of UNESCO on July 2nd 1993 .
On August 31st 1988 François Mitterrand, President of France, appointed Pierre Bergé President of the Paris Opera. He remained President until 1994 when he became honorary President of the Paris National Opera. He is on the Board of various French and foreign companies.
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He has received the following honours
Officier dans l’Ordre d’Orange-Nassau
Officer de l’Ordre National du Mérite
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur
Photos : Françoise Viard, Eva Rubinstein, B.W
Henry-Louis de La Grange (1924) studied music at Yale University, then in Paris with Yvonne Lefébure and Nadia Boulanger. Music critic for numerous French and foreign journals and periodicals, an adjunct lecturer for the Université de Tours, he is also universally recognized as the biographer of Gustav Mahler. His monumental work on the composer was published in English (vol. I : Doubleday, New York, 1973 and Gollancz, London, 1974), French (three volumes, Fayard, Paris: 1979-1984), and is in the process of a revised, augmented, and complete edition (four volumes) in English (Oxford University Press). Furthermore he is the author of the two-volume « Vienne. Une Histoire Musicale » (Coutaz, Arles, 1990-1991; Fayard, 1995). He also organized the Alziprato Festival in Corsica (1974-1979) ; assisted the Musée d¹Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1985 with a large Mahler exhibition; and collaborated with the Théâtre du Châtelet with its Mahler cycle in 1989, as well as with that of Lyons in (1991-1994). He was the artistic director of the Mahler Festwoche in Toblach (Southern Tyrol) in 1986, a co-organizer of the Mahler Festival of Amsterdam in 1995. 
Maurice Fleuret (1932-1990) studied music at the Paris Conservatory with Norbert Dufourcq, Oliver Messiaen, and Roland-Manuel, and composed incidental music for plays and films. Music critic for Le Nouvel Observateur among others,Maurice Fleuret was also responsible for all musical events at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.