About

Known credits:
45
Birthday:
1925-03-26
Place of birth:
Montbrison, Loire, France
Website:
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Pierre Boulez

Overview

Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.

Born in Montbrison, in the Loire department of France, the son of an engineer, Boulez studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, and privately with Andrée Vaurabourg and René Leibowitz. He began his professional career in the late 1940s as music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company in Paris. He was a leading figure in avant-garde music, playing an important role in the development of integral serialism in the 1950s, controlled chance music in the 1960s and the electronic transformation of instrumental music in real time from the 1970s onwards. His tendency to revise earlier compositions meant that his body of work was relatively small, but it included pieces considered landmarks of twentieth-century music, such as Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli and Répons. His uncompromising commitment to modernism and the trenchant, polemical tone in which he expressed his views on music led some to criticise him as a dogmatist.

Boulez was also one of the most prominent conductors of his generation. In a career lasting more than sixty years, he was music director of the New York Philharmonic, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made frequent appearances with many other orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He was known for his performances of the music of the first half of the twentieth century—including Debussy and Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartók, and the Second Viennese School—as well as that of his contemporaries, such as Ligeti, Berio and Carter. His work in the opera house included the production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival, and the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's opera Lulu. His recorded legacy is extensive.

He also founded several musical institutions. In Paris he set up the Domaine musical in the 1950s to promote new music; in the 1970s he established the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique (IRCAM), to foster research and innovation in music, and the Ensemble intercontemporain, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music. Later he co-founded the Cité de la musique, a concert hall, museum and library dedicated to music in the Parc de la Villette in Paris and, in Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works. ...

Source: Article "Pierre Boulez" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

Acting
2021 Der Jahrhundertring 1976 - Sternstunden der Musik Actor Self (archive footage) N/A
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2020 Zappa Actor Self (archive footage) 60
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2016 Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words Actor Self (archive footage) 59
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2016 Pierre Boulez at the BBC: Master and Maverick Actor Self (archive footage) N/A
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2014 Maurizio Pollini: De main de maître Actor Self N/A
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2011 Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10 Actor Conductor N/A
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2010 Knots and Fields Actor Self N/A
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2010 Bartok: Concerto for Violin - Gidon Kremer, Pierre Boulez Actor Self - conductor N/A
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2009 For Art's Sake: The Story of Ballets Russes Actor Self - Composer and Conductor N/A
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2007 From the House of the Dead Actor Self - Conductor N/A
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2007 Frank Zappa: Pioneer Of Future Music Actor Self N/A
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2007 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Resurrection Actor Self N/A
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2005 Boulez at 80 Actor Self - conductor N/A
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2004 A Labyrinth of Time Actor self N/A
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2004 Pierre Boulez: Emotion and Analysis Actor Self N/A
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2002 Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note Actor Self N/A
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2002 One Night, One Life Actor Self - Conductor N/A
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2000 Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die Actor Self N/A
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2000 Sur incises: A lesson by Pierre Boulez Actor Self N/A
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1998 The Seventh Door Actor Self N/A
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1996 Bruckner: Symphony No. 8: Wiener Philharmoniker Actor Self - Conductor N/A
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1996 Abbado: The Silence that Follows the Music Actor Self N/A
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1993 Eclat Actor Self 59
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1991 Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko Actor Self N/A
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1986 Alban Berg - Lulu Actor Self - Conductor N/A
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1985 Otto Klemperer's Long Journey Through His Times Actor Self N/A
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1983 The Making of 'The Ring des Nibelungen' Actor Self N/A
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1980 Wagner: Die Walküre Actor Self - Conductor 59
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1980 Wagner: Das Rheingold Actor Self - Conductor 59
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1980 Götterdämmerung Actor Self - Conductor 59
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1980 Siegfried Actor Self - Conductor 59
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1979 Rituel Actor Self 59
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1967 A Stravinsky Portrait Actor Self 59
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1966 The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse Actor Self N/A
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Directing
2013 Best of Bayreuth: Highlights from Three Decades Directing Director 58
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Sound
2004 Ma Mere l'Oye Sound Conductor N/A
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1992 Pelléas et Mélisande Sound Music Director 59
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1987 The Amazing Mr. Bickford Sound Conductor 58
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1985 Boulez-Répons Sound Music N/A
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1980 Wagner: Das Rheingold Sound Music Director 59
Average
1980 Wagner: Die Walküre Sound Music Director 59
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1980 Götterdämmerung Sound Music Director 59
Average
1980 Siegfried Sound Music Director 59
Average
1979 Rituel Sound Music 59
Average
Wagner- Tristan Und Isolde - Nilsson Sound Conductor N/A
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