The composer György Ligeti called Pierre-Laurent Aimard the leading interpreter of contemporary music because his playing combines technical perfection and poetic feeling. The pianist from Lyon was, by his own account, "magnetically attracted" to New Music from his earliest youth. He was crucially influenced by his studies with Yvonne Loriod, the wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. When he was just twelve, she introduced him to her husband, who became Aimard's "musical father". In 1973 the artist won the Concours Olivier Messiaen and began an unparalleled international career. Three years later Pierre Boulez hired him as a solo pianist for the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Aimard has worked with nearly all the great composers of our time. He is also in demand as a performer of the "traditional" repertoire.
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