Nadia Boulanger

She was born into a family of great musicians and thus music was a passion she shared with her younger sister, Lili. The sisters were very close and Nadia deeply loved and admired Lili who unfortunately died young.

She lived a long and productive life over the course of which she tutored several pupils of whom many became her good friends. She was highly revered and loved by her students. She died in 1979 at the ripe old age of 92.

She was born as Juliette Nadia Boulanger to Ernest Boulanger and his wife Raissa Myshetskaya. Ernest was a renowned composer and pianist who himself came from a family of famous musicians. She had one younger sister.

Both her parents were musically very active and little Nadia was irritated with music playing around her all day long. However, her attitude towards music changed when she was five and she began displaying her inherent musical talents.

She began receiving musical lessons and joined the Conservatoire in 1896 when she was nine. She also took private lessons from Vierne and Guilmant.

Her elderly father died in 1900 leaving behind a young wife and two daughters to fend for themselves. Her mother lived an extravagant lifestyle and thus Boulanger was determined to study well so that she could support her mother and little sister.

Even as a student she began giving organ and piano performances and earned money. She studied composition under Faure.

She began giving private lessons from her home in 1904 though she herself was just a teenager. She also conducted weekly classes in analysis and sight singing.

In 1907, she became a teacher of piano at the newly created Conservatoire Femina-Musica and an assistant to Henri Dallier, the professor of harmony at the conservatoire.

She began performing piano duets with Pugno and in 1908 the two composed a song cycle, ‘Les Heures claires’ which was well received by the public.

She made her debut as a conductor in 1912 and led the Soci�t� des Matin�es Musicales orchestra where she also performed as a soloist.

The 1910s was a period marked by political unrest and wars. Due to the war, public programs were reduced and she had to put her performing career on hold. She continued her work as a teacher.

Nadia Boulanger was a highly influential teacher of music and also a very talented composer who became the first woman to conduct many major orchestras including the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic orchestras.