Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was a Greek composer, architect, and mathematician who rose to prominence in the postwar years by espousing mathematical operations and advanced techniques that challenged the serialist establishment. With such groundbreaking orchestral works as Metastasis and Pithoprakta, Xenakis moved beyond his avant-garde contemporaries and cleared the way for stochastic music, based on probability theory. Xenakis also explored musique concrète and electronic music. Several of his later works, such as Oresteïa, employed Greek drama, and even some of his orchestral and electronic music drew on this ancient tradition. After years of illness, Xenakis died in Paris, his adopted city.