Pierre Boulez, Conductor Emeritus
Appointed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus in 2006, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez is one of the most important musical and intellectual figures of our time. Mr. Boulez was named principal guest conductor of the CSO in March 1995. This year, the music world celebrates his 85th birthday.
Born in 1925 in Montbrison, France, Mr. Boulez studied piano, composition, and choral conducting at the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz. In 1954, he founded the Concerts du Petit Marigny, one of the first concert series dedicated to modern music, which later became the Domaine Musical series. In the next decade, he was involved with musical analysis, and he taught in Darmstadt and at Basel University. In 1963, he was a visiting professor at Harvard University, and in 1976, he became a professor at the Collège de France.
Mr. Boulez began his conducting career in 1958 with the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1965, George Szell invited him to conduct in the US for the first time with the Cleveland Orchestra; he subsequently held posts there as principal guest conductor and musical advisor from 1969 until 1972. In 1971, he became chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra; that same year, he became music director of the New York Philharmonic, a position he held until 1977.
His difference of opinion about state intervention in the arts in France led Mr. Boulez into voluntary exile for several years. He returned to France in 1974, when the government invited him to be creator and director of a music research center at the Pompidou Centre. From the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique sprang the creation of a major instrumental group, the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Mr. Boulez also is cofounder of Cité de la Musique, a music center in Paris created in 1995.
Mr. Boulez’s numerous compositions are widely performed, including Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli, three piano sonatas, Le Visage nuptial, Répons, . . . explosante-fixe . . . , and Notations. Mr. Boulez has published five books about music. His many awards and honors include honorary doctorates from Leeds, Cambridge, Basel, and Oxford universities, among others; Commander of the British Empire; Knight of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; and 26 Grammy awards.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
In its second century, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra holds an enviable position in the music world, with performances greeted by enthusiastic audiences both at home and abroad.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra currently enjoys a unique leadership among international orchestras, with three of the world’s most celebrated conductors at its helm. Eminent Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink became principal conductor in 2006 and will conclude his successful tenure at the end of the 2009–2010 season. Renowned French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez—whose longstanding relationship with the CSO led to his appointment as principal guest conductor in 1995—was named Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus in 2006. In May 2008, Riccardo Muti was appointed the orchestra’s 10th music director. Maestro Muti currently serves as Music Director Designate, and will begin his tenure as Music Director in September 2010.
The CSO’s self-produced weekly radio program, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series, hit the national airwaves in April 2007 and is now syndicated to more than 200 markets nationwide on the WFMT Radio Network. These broadcasts offer a new and distinctive approach to classical music radio, with lively and engaging content designed to provide deeper insight and offer further connection to the music performed in the Orchestra’s concert season.
Recordings have been an important part of the CSO’s activities. Since 1916, the orchestra has amassed a discography numbering more than 900. Recordings by the CSO have earned 60 Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences—more than any other orchestra in the world. CSO Resound, the Orchestra’s in-house label for CD and digital download releases, was launched in May 2007. The CSO Resound recording of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony with Haitink, which includes a DVD Beyond the Score presentation, won the 2008 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance.
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