2025 marks the centenary of the birth of Pierre Boulez. The Paris Opera would like to pay tribute to this great composer, conductor, institution builder and teacher, and in particular to the links he forged with our company.

Born in Montbrison, France, on March 26, 1925, Pierre Boulez studied piano in Lyon before entering Georges Dandelot's preparatory harmony class at the Paris Conservatory in 1944. The following year, he joined Olivier Messiaen's harmony class, where he studied the languages of Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Bartók. At the same time, private lessons with René Leibowitz introduced him to the Viennese School, Schönberg, Berg, and Webern.

Pierre Boulez's work would be situated at the confluence of these various aesthetics, to which he added his taste for non-European music, reflected in the instruments he chose to use in his works. Notable scores include Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli, Répons, sur Incises, and Dérive 2.

Several of Boulez's scores have inspired choreographers such as Maurice Béjart and Wayne McGregor, who chose Anthèmes II for violin and electronics for the premiere of his ballet Alea Sands at the Opéra national de Paris in 2015.

In addition to his work as a composer, Pierre Boulez pursued a career as a conductor that made him known throughout the world. Appointed director of stage music for the Compagnie Renaud-Barrault in 1946, he founded the Concerts du Petit Marigny in 1953, which became the Domaine Musical the following year and which he directed until 1967. In 1966, he conducted Parsifal in Bayreuth, then Tristan and Isolde in Japan.

In 1969, he conducted the New York Philharmonic for the first time and served as its conductor from 1971 to 1977, succeeding Leonard Bernstein. At the same time, he was appointed permanent conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, a position he held from 1971 to 1975. In 1976, he was invited to Bayreuth to conduct Wagner's Ring Tetralogy under the direction of Patrice Chéreau for the centennial celebration of the Ring.

A champion of the composers of his time, Pierre Boulez created institutions capable of providing lasting solutions to the major problems of contemporary music: first, that of its dissemination and the indispensable evolution of its relationship with the public; second, that of the technological means necessary for musical invention. He founded the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (Ircam), chaired the Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC), and supported the Philharmonie de Paris project, inaugurated in 2015, a year before the composer's death on January 6, 2016.

Professor at the Collège de France from 1977 to 1995, Pierre Boulez is the author of numerous writings on music: Penser la musique aujourd'hui, Relevés d'apprenti, Points de repères, Le Pays fertile - Paul Klee, Leçons de musique. Throughout his career, he has given numerous master classes in conducting, notably at the Lucerne Festival Academy, of which he was founder and artistic director.

In 1963, Pierre Boulez conducted the French premiere of Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the Palais Garnier, in a production by Jean-Louis Barrault and with sets by André Masson. For a Maurice Béjart show in 1965, he conducted the Orchestre du Théâtre national de l'Opéra in Le Sacre du printemps, Renard and Noces (Stravinsky). In 1967, the Ministry of Culture asked Jean Vilar to develop a project to reform the national theaters, including the Paris Opera. Maurice Béjart and Pierre Boulez were involved in the project, but it came to nothing.

In 1977, Boulez conducted the Opéra Orchestra in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten and Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. The following year, he conducted a concert celebrating the 70th birthday of Olivier Messiaen. In 1979, he conducted the world premiere of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, in the version completed by Friedrich Cerha. In 1981, Pierre Boulez conducted a concert dedicated to Gustav Mahler with Yvonne Minton and Jon Vickers. This was followed by a Stravinsky/Debussy/Dvořák concert and a gala celebrating the centenary of the Institut Pasteur in 1987. In 2005, Boulez conducted the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in Debussy's La Mer for a gala evening at the Palais Garnier. In 2008, Boulez conducted a concert of Mahler/Berg/Schoenberg, and in 2010, a concert of works by Messiaen.

Pierre Boulez has recorded Lulu (Deutsche Grammophon) and Wozzeck (Sony) with the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris.