PIERRE BOULEZ 1925

Pierre Boulez (French: [pjɛʁ bu.lɛːz]; born 26 March 1925) is a French composer, conductor, writer, and pianist. Wikipedia

Boulez was born 26 March 1925, in Montbrison, Loire, France. He was raised Catholic. As a child, he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics. He pursued the latter at Lyon before pursuing music at the Paris Conservatoire under Olivier Messiaen and Andrée Vaurabourg (the wife of Arthur Honegger). Through Messiaen, Boulez discovered twelve-tone technique—which he would later study privately with René Leibowitz—and went on to write atonal music in a post-Webernian serial style. Boulez was initially part of a cadre of early supporters of Leibowitz, but due to an altercation with Leibowitz, their relations turned divisive, as Boulez spent much of his career promoting the music of Messiaen instead. Boulez is also a conductor, known for having directed most of the world's leading symphony orchestras and ensembles since the late fifties. He served concurrently as musical advisor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1970 to 1972, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1971 to 1975, and music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971 to 1977. In addition, he was the Music Director at the Ojai Music Festival on eight different occasions from 1967 to 2003. He is currently the Conductor Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, after having been its Principal Guest Conductor. The orchestras which he has conducted in recent years include the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the London Symphony Orchestra (2004 tour), the Orchestre de Paris, the Ensemble InterContemporain, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In 2005, he began a collaboration with the Staatskapelle Berlin.

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