During his time with the London Sinfonietta he collaborated with a variety of composers, including Boulez, Stockhausen, Birtwistle, Henze, Maxwell Davies, Goehr and Berio.
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger is a 1984 album featuring the music of Frank Zappa, conducted, in part, by Pierre Boulez.
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The title track was also commissioned by Boulez, and contains references to Zappa's 1971 film, 200 Motels.
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Boulez conducts three tracks ("The Perfect Stranger", "Naval Aviation in Art?" and "Dupree's Paradise"), recorded at IRCAM, Paris on January 10 and January 11, 1984, and performed by Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain.
He went on to receive his B.A. in music from Vassar College, and did further study at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana (with Xenakis and Donatoni), Westminster Choir College, and The Juilliard School, as well as numerous professional workshops with ASCAP, The American Music Center, and Carnegie Hall (including contemporary conducting techniques with Boulez).
The xylorimba recalls the African balafon; the vibraphone, the Balinese gamelan; and the guitar, the Japanese koto, though "neither the style nor the actual use of these instruments has any connection with these different musical civilizations" ("Speaking, Playing, Singing" (1963) in Boulez 1986, 341).
His participation at the Darmstadt courses in 1959 led to the performance of some of his works under Boulez and Maderna (Heine 2001).
The two weekends presented contemporary works by prominent composers such as Berio, Cage, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Varèse.
Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen; Conductor: Pierre Boulez (1980 LP Philips/ 2005 DVD Deutsche Grammophon)
He was still active in musical circles and a champion of the music of Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez in the post-war period; he was a co-founder, with Boulez and Jean-Louis Barrault, of the Domaine musical concert series.