François-Xavier Roth conducts concerts for Pierre Boulez

On Sunday 18 January, François-Xavier Roth conducted the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden & Freiburg in a three-concert celebration of the music of Pierre Boulez in Baden-Baden, Boulez' adopted home town. The live video recording of the complete evening concert is available to view here: http://concert.arte.tv/fr/concert-anniversaire-90-ans-pierre-boulez

Boulez made his conducting debut with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden & Freiburg in 1958 when he stepped in for the indisposed Hans Rosbaud at the Donaueschingen Music Festival and has conducted the orchestra throughout his career. The SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden & Freiburg has a long association with his music, having given the premiere of Le marteau sans maître exactly 60 years ago. It also premiered Figures, Doubles, Prismes and parts of Pli selon pli.

François-Xavier Roth has a great affinity with Boulez' music and will be conducting his music through this celebratory year. He describes meeting Boulez in 2001, while working with the LSO, as a "seminal moment" and says: "Pierre Boulez is certainly the musician who has made the biggest impression on me and I think he is the most influential composer of our time. I feel so privileged to celebrate all year long his 90th birthday and to try to communicate his vital spirit, his fearlessness, his intellect and his enterprise, through some of his most powerful and important music."

In March, The BBC Symphony Orchestra and François-Xavier Roth present Total Immersion - Pierre Boulez at 90 at the Barbican in London; a day of concerts, talks and film screenings providing an in-depth insight into the composer's life and music. Repertoire includes Pli selon pli, Boulez's famed interpretation of the poems of Stéphane Mallarmé (7.30pm, Barbican Hall). Boulez was Chief Conductor of the orchestra from 1971-1975.