Iannis Xenakis

"With the aid of electronic computers the composer becomes a sort of pilot... sailing in the space of sound, across sonic constellations and galaxies..."

Iannis Xenakis is one of the most radical and important composers of the twentieth century.

He formulated a theory of stochastic music in the early 1950s, co-founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1958, and pioneered the use of computers to compose in 1961. As architect, he worked with Le Corbusier and designed the Philips Pavilion for the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.

In 1963, he published Musique Formelles, a collection of his articles relating music, architecture, and mathematics. In 1972, he founded CEMAMu (Centre d'Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales) in Issy-les-Moulineaux, just outside of Paris. He has composed for a wide range of instrumental ensembles and solos, and his 'polytopes', sound and light spectacles, have been performed in Persepolis in 1971, in Paris in 1972, in Mycénes in 1978, and in Paris in 1978.

He taught at the University of Indiana (USA), City University (London), and Université de Paris I. His honors include Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Doctorat d'Etat (Sorbonne), Membre de l'Institut de France, and, most recently, the prestigious Kyoto Prize.