Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer, conductor and pianist who is perhaps best known as a champion of modern and contemporary classical music as both a composer and a performer. As a composer, Boulez is best known for his contributions to the Serialism movement in contemporary classical music, exemplified by his most celebrated work for ensemble and voice called Le marteau sans maître (The Hammer Without a Master). Aside from Boulez's somewhat intellectually-restrictive compositional output, which is celebrated the world over as major contributions to the evolution of contemporary music, Pierre Boulez is perhaps most popularly known as an acclaimed conductor and music director of several prestigious orchestras throughout the world.