Pierre Boulez Composer

Biography

Pierre Boulez was born in 1925 in Montbrison (Loire). After studying in a special mathematics class, he turned to music in 1942 and moved to Paris, where he was admitted two years later to Olivier Messiaen's harmony class at the Paris National Conservatory. He studied under Andrée Vaurabourg (counterpoint), Olivier Messiaen (composition), and René Leibowitz (dodecaphonic technique).

Appointed director of stage music for the Renaud-Barrault Company in 1946, he founded the Concerts du Petit Marigny in 1953, which the following year became known as Domaine Musical, which he directed until 1967.

Gradually, but without ever giving up his activity as a composer, he pursued a career as a conductor, gaining worldwide recognition. In 1966, he conducted Parsifal in Bayreuth, followed by Tristan und Isolde in Japan. In 1969, he conducted the New York Philharmonic for the first time, later taking over as its director from 1971 to 1977, succeeding Leonard Bernstein. At the same time, he was appointed principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, a position he held from 1971 to 1975.

In 1977, he founded the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustics/Music - Ircam). The year 1975 saw the creation of the Ensemble Intercontemporain (EIC), with Pierre Boulez as its president.

In 1976, he was invited to Bayreuth to conduct Wagner's Ring Cycle, directed by Patrice Chéreau, in celebration of the centennial of the Ring. For five consecutive years, he conducted this production, which was later recorded on disc and video cassette.

Appointed professor at the Collège de France in 1976, he also authored numerous writings on music. In 1988, he produced a series of six television programs: Boulez XX^e siècle.

In 1992, he left his position at Ircam to devote himself to conducting and composing. He signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and continued his extensive discography with the greatest orchestras.

Regularly invited to the festivals of Salzburg, Berlin, and Edinburgh, his seventieth anniversary was marked by a concert series for the inauguration of the Cité de la Musique at La Villette, a major world tour with the London Symphony Orchestra (London, Paris, New York, Tokyo), a series of concerts in Japan with four different orchestras, and a production of Moses und Aron at the Amsterdam Opera, staged by Peter Stein.

His major works created at Ircam include Répons (1981-1988) for six soloists, ensemble, and computer, premiered in its final version at the Avignon Festival in 1988; Dialogue de l'ombre double (1985) for clarinet, tape, and spatialization system; and ...Explosante-fixe... for flutes, ensemble, and computer (1991-1995).

At once composer, analyst, conductor, teacher, and innovator, Pierre Boulez, committed to perpetuating his creative approach, established institutions capable of providing sustainable solutions to the major challenges facing contemporary music: first, its dissemination and the necessary evolution of its relationship with the public; and second, the technological means required for musical invention.

At the Paris National Opera: Wozzeck (entered the Paris Opera's repertoire in 1963), The Rite of Spring, Renard, and Les Noces (choreographies by Maurice Béjart, 1965), a concert for Olivier Messiaen's 70^th anniversary (1978), Lulu (world premiere of the complete version, 1979), a Gustav Mahler concert with Yvonne Minton and Jon Vickers (1981), a Stravinsky/Debussy/Dvořák concert, and a gala organized for the centenary of the Pasteur Institute with Mstislav Rostropovich (1987). He notably recorded Lulu (DG) and Wozzeck (Sony) with the Paris Opera Orchestra.