This is also a man deeply dedicated to playfulness: the umbrella term Játékok (Games) has now been applied to 8 volumes of an ongoing series of his music for piano since 1973, and he has created Hommage works dedicated to a hall of fame where Robert Schumann and Nancy Sinatra provocatively coexist. One of the most anticipated new operas on the horizon is Kurtág's setting of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, which is now projected to be premiered in 2015. That this 88-year-old composer can continue to generate headlines with such an ambitious project is testimony to a long career that has combined playfulness, perfectionism, and a highly intellectual bent.