Pierre Boulez has passed away
French composer Pierre Boulez died on January 5, 2016 at his home in Baden-Baden. He was 90 years old.
A precocious musician - he played Chopin at the age of 8 - Pierre Boulez was also gifted in the sciences. He prepared to enter the Ecole Polytechnique, but his passion for music took over, and in 1944 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire, in Olivier Messiaen's class.
After graduating, he began his musical career as a conductor, professor of musical analysis (notably at the Basel Academy of Music) and author of essays on music. In 1977, President Georges Pompidou appointed him director of IRCAM in Paris. He remained there until 1992. He also presided over the Ensemble Intercontemporain, staged Wagner's Tetralogy with Patrice Chéreau for the centenary of its creation, and participated in projects for the Opéra Bastille and the Cité de la Musique in Paris.
He was responsible for several major works in the French avant-garde: le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli, Répons, Incises, among others.
