Pierre Boulez was born in France in 1925. He majored in mathematics at the Coll猫ge de Saint-脡tienne, where he also took music lessons and then studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1953, Boulez founded a series of avant-garde concerts, the Concerts of Petit-Marigny, which were later renamed the Domaine Musical.
Boulez's first conducting post began in 1958 with the Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra in Baden-Baden, West Germany. He was principal guest conductor and then musical adviser of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1969 to 1972, and principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London from 1971 to 1975 and the New York Philharmonic from 1971 to 1977. He conducted with other major orchestras in the United States and Europe, including the Chicago Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras.
In 1970, Boulez established the Institute de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) where he served as director until 1992. In 1976, he established an instrumental group, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, which became one of the world鈥檚 most important contemporary music ensembles.
Boulez delivered the Beatty Lecture on May 21, 1991, titled 鈥淩茅pons: How to Develop a Musical Idea鈥�.
Image: Creative Commons
