Médiathèque Musicale Mahler » Institution

Pierre Bergé

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:51:59 +0000

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

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:46:49 +0000

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.

The President

Maurice Fleuret

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:45:23 +0000

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.
He created the Journées de Musique contemporaine and the Semaines musicales internationales de Paris, and also directed the Festival de Lille. Director of Music and Dance at the French Ministry of Culture from 1981 to 1986, he conceived the idea of an annual Fête de la Musique, an event which has since spread to seventy countries.

Principal patrons :

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:43:27 +0000

Ministère de la culture (Direction de la musique, de la danse, du théâtre et du spectacle vivant – Centre national des lettres),
Fondation de France,
SACEM (Société des auteurs compositeurs et éditeurs de musique),
Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent,
Ville de Paris
Berlys Foundation
the 300 supporting members (individuals and institutions).

The founders

Institutions

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:49:23 +0000

The Médiathèque Musicale Mahler in Paris was founded in 1986 by the noted musicologist Henry-Louis de La Grange and the music-critic Maurice Fleuret, who wished to make available to a large public their extensive collections related to 19th and 20th century music.

The Médiathèque Musicale Mahler in Paris is a non-profit organization constituted in accordance with the law of 1901 governing French charitable institutions. It has been officially approved by the Fondation de France. The Institution is presided by Mr Pierre Bergé.

Honorary president : Henry-Louis de La Grange

Président : Pierre Bergé

Vice-président : Jacques Lonchampt

General Secretary : Laurent Bayle

Treasurer : François Tripet

Honorary advisers : Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Alfred Brendel, Elliott Carter, Riccardo Chailly, James Conlon, Henri Dutilleux, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Thomas Hampson, Eliahu Inbal, Christa Ludwig, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Jessye Norman, Seiji Ozawa, Murray Perahia, Simon Rattle, Tilson Thomas, Iannis Xenakis.

Others donors to the collections : Maïmé Arnodin, Claude Bandieri, Eric Baude, Jacques et Gérard Brunschwig, Odile Budan, Marie-Germaine Dorgeuille, Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris-Alfred Cortot, Maurice Fleuret, Bernard Goué, Jeanne Green-Le Flem, Desi Halban von Saher, Mireille Helffer, Christine Jolivet, Irène Kamerling, Lotte Klemperer, Yves Koechlin, Madeleine Li-Koechlin, Henry-Louis de La Grange, Jacques Lonchampt, Marina Mahler, Madeleine Milhaud, Denise Paulme-Schaeffner, Gérard Pellier, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Jean Raindre, Albi Rosenthal, Claudine Rosenthal, Jacqueline Roskam, Jean-Manuel de Scarano, André Tubeuf, Jacques Vautrin, Josée Natika Yznaga.