Amy studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Messiaen and Milhaud. His meeting with Boulez in 1956 and his study with him at the Basle Academy in 1965 had a profound effect upon Amy's work as a composer. He later succeeded Boulez as conductor of the Domaine Musical. His writing is polyphonic and technically precise and makes use of such avant-garde devices as quarter tones.