BBC SO Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez
Join the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a day-long deep-dive into the life and work of Pierre Boulez.
From 1971 to 1974 Pierre Boulez was the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra – a relationship that left both orchestra and composer utterly transformed. Postwar music’s most radical imagination met an orchestra without limits, exploring new possibilities, smashing boundaries and plugging British music back into the European avant-garde.
Today, in Boulez’s centenary year, we’re immersing ourselves in that moment and its legacy: using films and talks to recapture the spirit of Boulez’s time in London, and exploring the works that he created and championed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including a rare full performance of Pli selon Pli. The revolution lives.
Events
Pierre Boulez - The Man and the Music
Musicologist Professor Jonathan Cross talks to former members of the BBC SO as well as former Radio 3 Controller Sir Nicholas Kenyon – about their personal experience of working with Pierre Boulez.
Pierre Boulez – The Second Piano Sonata
Boulez’s shattering Second Piano Sonata, and two extraordinary works for solo clarinet, performed by the talented musicians of the Guildhall School and introduced by BBC Radio 3’s Kate Molleson.
Pierre Boulez – Pli selon pli
An evening-long tribute to the limitless creative mind of Pierre Boulez, culminating in a rare performance of his five-movement epic masterpiece Pli selon Pli.
