The Prize Committee for Music has unanimously decided that the Wolf Prize in the Arts for 2000 be jointly awarded to:
Pierre Boulez
Paris, France
one of the most creative living personalities in the realm of music, and
Riccardo Muti
Milano, Italy
one of the most outstanding conductors of our time.
Pierre Boulez is a great composer, an outstanding conductor, a philosopher of music, and a distinguished teacher - a true musical savant. He is the most prominent contemporary figure to combine together the creator and the investigator within his personality. He has gone a long way to investigate the acoustical limits of sound, as well as its influence on people.
Boulez is the scholar who opened wide, to young composers of the fifties, the gates leading to the new aesthetics of the musical avant-garde style that developed during the second half of the twentieth century.
It was Boulez who created the IRCAM (Institute de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique) at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. On his initiative and under his direction, it became a universal center, where investigators from the world over are intent on deciphering the codes that link music to human beings. At IRCAM Boulez established a group of performers who give expression to the new musical discoveries through public concerts. He also encourages young musicians to present their original compositions to the public at large.
Riccardo Muti is one of the most outstanding conductors of our times. His musical charisma brings excitement to concert halls and opera houses His creative activities have found expression beyond the boundaries of the domain of music. Muti constitutes one of the most important links in the chain of development of the image of the conductor, whose interpretation of the masterpieces of symphonic music and opera enriches the contemporary world of music. He belongs to the rare breed of conductors, representing the great tradition of interpreters of musical oevres, that has developed from the Baroque era to the present day. What is more, he embellishes this tradition with extraordinary creativity and a freshly rich imagination.
Muti´s activity reaches beyond the realm of concert halls and opera houses. As a conductor he is always first in bringing the humanitarian message of music in moments of crisis. Thus, he came with his La Scala Opera Orchestra to Kosovo and on another occasion to Jerusalem, in support of the peace process. Muti has gained a reputation as the conductor who initiated the founding of a musical therapy center for handicapped children. At the same time he kept encouraging young orchestras and musicians to excel in the fields of composition, instrumental performance and singing.