Pierre Boulez
Conductor, Composer
1925 — 2016
Pierre Boulez was born in 1925 in Montbrison, France. He first studied mathematics, then music at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM), where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz. In 1954, with the support of Jean-Louis Barrault, he founded the Domaine musical in Paris – one of the first concert series dedicated entirely to the performance of modern music – and remained their director until 1967. Boulez began his conducting career in 1958 with the Südwestfunk Orchestra in Baden-Baden, Germany and from 1960 to 1962, he taught composition at the Music Academy in Basel.
A regular conductor at the Bayreuth Festival, Boulez was also principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and music director of the New York Philharmonic. In 1976, he became the music director of the 100th-anniversary production of Wagner’s Ring at Bayreuth and returned to conduct the cycle again at the next four festivals. During this time, he devoted himself to the newly created Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and founded the Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC). In 1995, Boulez co-founded the music centre Cité de la musique in Paris and conducted the orchestra of the CNSM and the EIC in its opening concert with works by Mahler and Stravinsky. In the same year, he was named principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, “Artist of the Year” by Gramophone, and was honoured at the Victoires de la Musique in France. By 2005, Boulez was the artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Academy, an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, honorary conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin, and Conductor Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
As a composer, conductor, and teacher, Pierre Boulez has made a decisive contribution to the development of music in the 20th century and inspired generations of young musicians with his pioneering spirit. His recordings have earned him a total of 26 Grammys and vast numbers of other prestigious awards.
