The Rundfunkchor Berlin after the last preview of LUTHER dancing with the gods, at the Pierre Boulez Saal on October 4, 2017
“Of all the people that I have worked with, throughout my life, both professionally and otherwise, there is one person who always stood out. Her name is Benedicte Pesle; she was a visionary, she was capable of envisioning large-scale works and thinking over long periods of time. She had the best critical eye I ever met. She was severe in her dress and taste. She had a great sense of humor. She alone was more responsible than anyone else in bringing American artists to Europe and elsewhere: Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Philip Glass, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown, Alan Lloyd, Andy De Groat, my work, and many others. She worked for Alexander Iolas Gallery and often made selections of paintings, sculptures, and drawings for important collections. Especially for John and Dominique De Menil and other members of her family. She alone helped engineer my 24-hour long Overture at the Opéra Comique, in the first production of the Festival d’Automne and engineering the following work, the seven-day play KA Mountain and Guardenia Terrace: the story about a family and some people changing. She was a driving force behind Rolf Liebermann in commissioning a full evening with Merce Cunningham, John Cage Un Jour ou Deux with sets and costumes by Jasper Johns at the Opéra Garnier. She went with me in 1973 to ask Michel Guy to commission Philip Glass and myself to create Einstein on the Beach, a 5-hour opera. It was Glass’ first commissioned opera. She was the driving force for Michel Guy, who was the Minister of Culture, in all the projects he did in the performing and visual arts. She was always direct and modest and worked behind the scenes. Often no one knew that she had been involved. She was a great friend of the surrealists Matta, Ernst, Tinguely and Magritte. She believed very much in having cultural exchange programs between the US and France and no one accomplished more in the last half of the 20th century than she did with her cultural exchange programs. Often using her own very limited money, she would support events without any mention of her name. Of all the people that I have worked with, professionally and otherwise, I always say again; she was the wisest, she was best. There was no one like her.”
