Léon Milo discovered the timpani at fifteen, entered the Juilliard School and played under the baton of Bernstein, Karajan and Boulez. A percussionist in Israel, then a Fulbright scholar in Paris in 1989, he turned to computer-assisted composition and worked at IRCAM. He also collaborated with the designer Arik Levy. Only three elements name him today.
The story
Born in Los Angeles on 10 December 1956 and raised in the Hollywood hills, the percussionist Léon Milo studied under Bill Douglass, Charles Flores and Joe Porcaro. William Kraft started him on the timpani at fifteen.
He entered the Juilliard School in 1975 — timpani with Saul Goodman, composition with Stanley Wolfe — and played under Bernstein, Solti, Karajan and Boulez. A Master of Music followed in 1980.
He was a percussionist with the Israeli Sinfonietta of Beersheba from 1981 to 1984, then met Luciano Berio, an encounter that led him to study with Leonard Stein.
A Fulbright scholarship brought him to Paris in 1989: he worked with Gilbert Amy, took master classes with Tristan Murail and Betsy Jolas at Fontainebleau, and won the Nadia and Lili Boulanger award.
He turned to computer-assisted composition — the UPIC, then IRCAM in 1998 —, worked with the designer Arik Levy (the Pompidou Centre in 2005, the Swarovski Crystal Palace in Milan in 2009), and founded the Interact-Son ensemble and the Pianowaves duo. He died on 31 August 2014.
The grave
A plain grave whose inscription consists of a name and two dates: “Léon MILO, 1956-2014”. Nothing of Juilliard, nothing of Karajan, nothing of IRCAM. Nothing, either, of the eight hours he improvised in 2007 at the Borealis festival in Bergen, Norway, using only the sounds the audience had brought him — or of the Björk song he transcribed for piano and electronics.
On site, do not miss
An inscription of three elements — “Léon MILO, 1956-2014” — for a percussionist who played under Karajan and Boulez before composing by computer.
Visitors' questions
Where is Léon Milo's grave?
In Division 62, chemin Luzarraga, third row, beneath an inscription of three elements: “Léon MILO, 1956-2014”. The Division is also that of the Kurdish film-maker Yılmaz Güney and the writer Joseph Joffo.
Joseph JoffoWhich conductors did Léon Milo play under?
Bernstein, Solti, Karajan and Boulez — four of the century's greatest. He was a timpanist, trained at the Juilliard School from 1975, and had been put on the instrument by William Kraft at fifteen.
Jean-Jacques GrunenwaldWhy did he come to France?
On a Fulbright scholarship, in 1989. He went on to work with Gilbert Amy, took master classes with Tristan Murail and Betsy Jolas at Fontainebleau, and won the Nadia and Lili Boulanger award. He stayed in France for the rest of his life.
Jean FrançaixWhat did he do at IRCAM?
Computer-assisted composition: he had worked on the UPIC, Xenakis's system, before joining IRCAM, the Paris institute for electronic music, in 1998. He also worked with the designer Arik Levy, at the Pompidou Centre in 2005 and at the Swarovski Crystal Palace in Milan in 2009.
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