Conductor, Composer. An apostle of modern music and one of the inventors of electronic music, he is remembered for creating and leading numerous cutting-edge works. Raised in central France, he was a piano prodigy by age five and began composing while in his teens. During World War II, he went to Paris where he was active in the Resistance and, against his father's wishes, enrolled in the Conservatory. There, he was exposed to the music of such composers as Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, and, especially, Arnold Schoenberg whose 12-tone method he fully embraced. After the War he studied with Rene Liebowitz and in 1946 produced his first Piano Sonata which was followed by Piano Sonata No.2 a year later; gradually branching out into conducting, he built a following while also continuing to write and to make occasional appearances as a piano soloist. In the mid 1950s, Boulez produced what many consider his magnum opus, "Le Marteau Sans Maitre", a long piece for voice and orchestra and one of the early examples of his 'work-in-progesss' style of composing, a method allowing for revision of published works, but in 1959 he left Paris for Baden-Baden, his passion for 'new music' having made him enemies at home. He made a triumphal return in 1963 to lead an acclaimed performance of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", then in the late 1960s became a principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Appointed Music Director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1968, in 1971 he became Maestro of the New York Philharmonic, named to succeed the legendary Leonard Bernstein; Boulez only lasted six years in the Big Apple, because, while none doubted his skill, his manner was sometimes abrasive and his devotion to modern music rubbed some people the wrong way. With time, his compositional output slowed, though in the mid 1990s he did produce the well-received "Sur Incises". Maestro Boulez continued to lead symphonic and, occasionally, operatic ensembles and in 1995 took the London Symphony Orchestra on a world tour; remaining active as long as he could, in 2012 he was forced from the podium by visual problems. His list of honors received from many nations was long and included 18 Grammy Awards; at his death from the effects of advanced age most of his massive recorded legacy remained available.