Revolutionary opera director Gerard Mortier dies

BRUSSELS (AP) — Gerard Mortier, a Belgian opera director whose nonconformist style often grated the tradition-bound elite and who became a fiercely avant-garde impresario, has died. He was 70.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo made the announcement Sunday, and the country’s media said Mortier died the day before at his home in Brussels after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer.