Performer: Pierre Boulez

Many people are somewhat reserved about attending concerts where contemporary music is played. Probably, these reservations are sometimes appropriate, but whenever you stumble upon Pierre Boulez performing with his Ensemble intercontemporain and Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble, you might want to consider gracing the performance with your presence.

On the centenary of Pierre Boulez’s birth, Phillippe Manoury tells us about his relationship with the composer and conductor, painting a picture which bucks some pre-conceived ideas.

Barbara Hannigan talks about her relationship with Boulez, on singing Pli selon pli, and returning to the London Symphony Orchestra to conduct two programmes this season.

Daniel Barenboim inaugurated last month the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. The most interesting feature of the hall lies not in its flowing architecture, but rather in its name: the Pierre Boulez Saal. One year after the French composer death, what is his legacy?