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Nagisa Ōshima *III 31 1932 — The Life You Give
Nagisa Oshima’s interest in politics began at a young age. His father, a government official (reportedly of samurai lineage) who died when Oshima was six, left behind an extensive library of Socialist and Communist texts, which the young man read through as he came to maturity. He attended Kyoto University, studying law while dabbling in…
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Joseph Haydn *III 31 1732 — The Life You Give
Joseph Haydn, born Franz Joseph Haydn, on March 31, 1732, in Rohrau, Austria, is the composer who was one of the most important figures in the development of the Classical style in music during the 18th century. He helped establish the forms and styles for the string quartet and the symphony. Early years Haydn was…
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The Piano — International Piano Day
The piano, also called pianoforte, French piano or pianoforte, German Klavier, is a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys and has a compass of seven full octaves plus a few keys. The vibration of the strings is…
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Pierre Boulez *III 26 1925 — The Life You Give
Pierre Boulez, born March 26, 1925, in Montbrison, France, is the most significant French composer of his generation, as well as a noted conductor and music theorist who championed the work of 20th-century composers. Boulez, the son of a steel manufacturer, majored in mathematics at the Collège de Saint-Étienne, where he also took music lessons;…
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Béla Bartók *III 25 1881 — The Life You Give
Béla Bartók, born March 25, 1881, in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Sânnicolau Mare, Romania] is the composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and teacher, noted for the Hungarian flavour of his major musical works, which include orchestral works, string quartets, piano solos, several stage works, a cantata, and a number of settings of folk songs for voice and…
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Aretha Franklin *III 25 1942 — The Life You Give
Aretha Franklin, born Aretha Louise Franklin, on March 25 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A., is the singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s. Franklin’s mother, Barbara, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, C.L. Franklin, presided over the New Bethel Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, and was a minister…
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Dario Fo *III 24 1926 — The Life You Give
Dario Fo, born March 24, 1926, in Leggiuno-Sangiano, Italy, is the avant-garde playwright, manager-director, and actor-mime who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997 though he often faced government censure as a theatrical caricaturist with a flair for social agitation. Fo’s first theatrical experience was collaborating on satirical revues for small cabarets and…
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Dolora Zajick *III 24 1952 — The Life You Give
Dolora Zajick (ZAH-chik) is among the world’s leading dramatic mezzo-sopranos, unsurpassed in Verdi’s mezzo roles. Birgit Nilsson in 1991 stated that “Zajick’s voice is the only one existing today without any competition in the world.” She comes from a large family of Czech descent. As a pre-medical student at the University of Nevada, she took…
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Akira Kurosawa *III 23 1910 — The Life You Give
Kurosawa Akira, born March 23, 1910, in Tokyo, Japan, was the first Japanese film director to win international acclaim, with such films as Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Kagemusha (1980), and Ran (1985). Kurosawa’s father, who had once been an army officer, was a teacher who contributed to the…
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Agnes Martin *III 22 1912 — The Life You Give
Agnes Martin, born March 22 1912, in Macklin, Saskatchewan, Canada, is known as a painter. She moved to the U.S. in 1931 and became a U.S. citizen in 1950. She studied at Columbia University and taught at the University of New Mexico. In 1958 she had her first solo exhibition. Martin was a prominent exponent…
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Happy Birthday, Father! / Twenty-one days with my Father – 2026
On this day, 1937, you dedicated this picture to a friend. In your words: Today I wish to show my affection with this small souvenir on my birthday… In secret, your father bought you a suit, and took you to a photographer to celebrate your sixth birthday. Happy Birthday, my dear Father!
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Modest Mussorgsky *III 21 1839 — The Life You Give
Modest Mussorgsky, born Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, on March 9 [March 21, New Style], 1839, in Karevo, Russia, was the composer noted particularly for his opera Boris Godunov (final version first performed 1874), his songs, and his piano piece Pictures from an Exhibition (1874). Mussorgsky, along with Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and César Cui,…
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