The 1997 Laureates / Creative Arts and Moral Sciences Category / Music

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Iannis Xenakis

France / May 29, 1922-2001
Composer

Mr. Xenakis is considered a 20th century giant in the world of music, for his outstanding achievements. Viewing music as a physical acoustic phenomenon, he has established techniques for creating music mathematically. His compositions, consistently with the aid of computer science, from his first Metastasis through such representative works as Atrées, richly render a humanistic and spiritual cosmos liberated from the traditional European paradigm. Mr. Xenakis has unveiled a totally new dimension to the history of music.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

1922
Born in Braila, Romania
1932
Moved to Greece with parents
1940
Studied architecture and mathematics at Athens Polytechnic. Greek resistance fighter, World War II
1947
Escaped to Paris.
1948-1959
Became architecture collaborator under Le Corbusier, Paris.
Also studied music composition under Honegger, Milhaud and Messiaen
1955
Debuted as composer with "Metastasis" and became active in composition
1965
Acquired French nationality
1965
Founded the Equipe de Mathematique et d'Automatique Musicales (EMAMu). (Reorganized to CEMAMu in 1972)

AWARDS AND HONORS

1965, 1968, 1970, 1977
Grand Prize of Record, The Academy of French Record, Paris
1977
Edison prize for the best record of contemporary music, Amsterdam
1982
The fifth Order Merit with la Legion d'Honneur
1985
National Order of Merit, Paris
1991
The fourth Order of Merit with la Legion d'Honneur
Member
Honorary Member, American Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters
Member, European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Paris
Professor Emeritus, Paris-Sorbonne University

MAJOR WORKS

1953-1954
Metastasis
1955-1956
Pithoprakta
1956-1962
ST/4,10,48
1963
Formalized Music (1971, Eng. trans)
1967-68
Nomos Gamma
1973
Evryali
1975
Musique-architecture (1975, Jap. trans)
1986
Horos