Pianist and conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra from 1964, he became conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra 1970, musical director of the Orchestre de Paris 1975, and director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1991. As a pianist he specialized in the German classic and romantic repertoire; as a conductor he has extended into 19th- and 20th-century French music, including Boulez. He was married to the cellist Jacqueline Du Pre.
