Pierre Boulez was born in 1925 in Montbrison, France. He first studied mathematics, then music at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM), where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz. In 1954, with the support of Jean-Louis Barrault, he founded the Domaine musical in Paris – one of the first concert series dedicated entirely to the performance of modern music – and remained their director until 1967. Boulez began his conducting career in 1958 with the Südwestfunk Orchestra in Baden-Baden, Germany. From 1960 to 1962 he taught composition at the Music Academy in Basel. As a composer, conductor and teacher, Pierre Boulez has made a decisive contribution to the development of music in the 20th century and inspired generations of young musicians with his pioneering spirit. His recordings have earned him a total of 26 Grammys and vast numbers of other prestigious awards.
1966
Bayreuth debut with Parsifal, returning to conduct it again in 1967, 1968 and 1970
1967
Named principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra (until 1972)
1969
Conducts new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Covent Garden
1971
Appointed principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (until 1975) and music director of the New York Philharmonic (until 1977); release of his first Deutsche Grammophon recording: Parsifal, from the 1970 Bayreuth Festival
1976
Music director of the 100th-anniversary production of Wagner’s Ring at Bayreuth; returns to conduct the cycle again at the next four festivals
1977
From now until his resignation as director in 1992, he devotes himself to the newly created Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and founds the Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC)
1989
Signs a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon which became exclusive in 1992
1995
Co-founder of the music centre Cité de la musique in Paris, he conducts the orchestra of the CNSM and the EIC in its opening concert with works by Mahler and Stravinsky; named principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; named “Artist of the Year” by Gramophone, and honoured on the occasion of his 70th birthday at the Victoires de la Musique in France
1997
Composition and première of Anthèmes 2 for violon solo and electronics
1999
Composer-in-Residence at Carnegie Hall until 2003
2000
Vast concert series celebrating his 75th birthday; Grammy Award for his work Répons
2001
Boulez’s ultimate realization of his Pli selon pli, with soprano Christine Schäfer and the EIC, and the following year his latest Dérive 2 and early Le Marteau sans maître are recorded under his direction
2003
Tour of Japan and concerts in Lucerne with Boulez conducting the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra; becomes artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2004
Returns to Bayreuth conducting Parsifal
2005
In his 80th birthday year, amongst other celebrations, Boulez is appointed honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, named honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, and honorary conductor of the Staatskapelle Ber-lin
2006
Appointed Conductor emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2007
Highly acclaimed staging with Patrice Chéreau of Janáček’s From the House of the Dead
2008
“Grand invité” of the Louvre
2009
Composer-in-Residence at Salzburg’s Mozartwoche; following a concert tour to Chicago, returns to the U.S. in May, performing Mahler’s complete symphonic œuvre with Barenboim at Carnegie Hall; masterclass in conducting and performs Répons at the Lucerne Festival; awarded the Kyoto Prize
2010
85th-birthday-year concerts include the Chicago Symphony, MET and Cleveland orchestras, EIC (in Paris and on European tours), Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, Orchestre de Paris, Vienna Philharmonic (with Carnegie Hall appearance), Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin and Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble and Orchestra. To celebrate Boulez’s 85th birthday Deutsche Grammophon releases his first-ever Szymanowski recording featuring the composer’s popular Violin Concerto no. 1 and Symphony no. 3 “Song of the Night”; the Ravel Piano Concertos, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard; and Boulez’s complete Deutsche Grammophon Stravinsky recordings as a 6-CD box-set
2011
Starts with a sabbatical devoted to composition until early summer; conducts and records the Liszt piano concertos with Barenboim, then Mahler’s Das klagende Lied with the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg; again directs the Lucerne Festival Academy, before conducting his major work, Pli selon pli, on tour; in November receives the German Giga-Hertz Award for his electronic music
12/2011