Composer Pierre Boulez Has Died

Photo via Pierre Boulez's Facebook

Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor, died yesterday at home in Germany, the BBC reports. He was 90.

Born in 1925 in Montbrison, a town near Lyon, Boulez studied at the famous Conservatoire music school in Paris. In 1944-45, he became conversant with the music of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, and Webern via his harmony tutor, Olivier Messiaen. Shortly after World War II, Boulez came to prominence as a composer, producing works such as "Marteau Sans Maître" and the adventurous "Structures."

In the late 1950s, he emerged as a notable conductor. By the 1960s, he was working with major international orchestras including Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. He went on to become chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and, thanks to his avant-garde credentials, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, where he succeeded Leonard Bernstein.

In the 1970s, Boulez became director of the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM). While there, he sidelined conducting and instead broadened his musical experiments. During this phase, works like 1981's "Répons," which applies live digital effects to percussion solos, helped introduce electronic music to the classical world.

In the 1990s, Boulez once more prioritized his role as a conductor. In later life, he won awards including the Kyoto Prize in 2009 and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in 2013, as well as dozens of Grammys.

Boulez's family confirmed his death to the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, which he helmed. "For all those who met him and were able to appreciate his creative energy, his artistic vigour... will remain alive and strong," they said.

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