As a young and impatient artist, Pierre Boulez once suggested blowing up the big-name opera houses in order to do away with stuffy traditions. Years later he would lead a triumphant Ring cycle in Bayreuth, of all places, and become a prized guest conductor with orchestras all over the world. In carving out a place for a singular artist like himself in the classical music world, he never lost sight of the iconoclastic spirit that animated his early projects, championing avant-garde contemporaries and founding the IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics / Music).

This insightful documentary by Reiner Moritz includes footage from several of Boulez’s legendary performances and interviews with his brother Roger, Daniel Barenboim, other friends and collaborators, and of course, the man himself: an astute observer of culture and politics, a wise and witty teacher, and one of the most influential figures in music over the last century.