BADEN-BADEN , Germany, Jan. 6 (UPI) — Pierre Boulez, whose compositions encouraged classical music to move in radical new directions, has died at 90, his family announced.
He died at his Baden-Baden, Germany, home on Tuesday after a long illness.
Boulez, a French composer, conductor, pianist, musical theorist and writer, founded the Paris
Philharmonic Orchestra and pioneered the theory of serialism, a mathematical approach to music in which notes are assigned numbers. He also encouraged improvisation, unusual in classical music, and playing of {link:modern pieces in concert settings.
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In his long career he was musical adviser to the Cleveland Orchestra, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and music director of the New York Philharmonic, as well as a guest conductor of hundreds of orchestras around the world. His radical approach to reshaping classical music included the integration of electronic music to the more familiar works typically presented.
“For all those who met him and were able to appreciate his creative energy, his artistic vigor … will remain alive and strong,” his family said in a statement.
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