Breathing Curiosity
Josephine Baker, born Freda Josephine McDonald, June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., is the dancer and singer who symbolized the beauty and vitality of Black American culture, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s.Baker grew up fatherless and in poverty. Between the ages of 8 and 10 she was out of school,… Continue reading The Life You Give: Josephine Baker *1906
Sir Edward Elgar, born Edward William Elgar, June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, Worcestershire, England, is the composer whose works in the orchestral idiom of late 19th-century Romanticism—characterized by bold tunes, striking colour effects, and mastery of large forms—stimulated a renaissance of English music.The son of an organist and music dealer, Elgar left school at age… Continue reading The Life You Give: Edward Elgar *1857
The accomplished pianist, Nurit Tilles, was born in New York on May 29, 1952. She studied at the preparatory division of the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1961-68) and at the Oberlin (Ohio) Coll. Cons. of Music (B.Mus., 1973); after taking courses in tabla and gamelan at the Center for World Music (1974), she… Continue reading Nurit Tilles *V 29 1952 / The Life You Give
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, born May 28, 1925, in Berlin, Germany, was an operatic baritone and preeminent singer of lieder, distinguished for his lyrical voice, commanding presence, and superb artistry. Fischer-Dieskau studied with Georg Walter before serving in World War II and with Hermann Weissenborn afterward. In 1947 he made his concert debut in Johannes Brahms’s Ein… Continue reading The Life You Give: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau *1925
György Ligeti, born György Sándor Ligeti, May 28, 1923, in Diciosânmartin [now Tîrnăveni], Transylvania, Romania, is a leading composer of the branch of avant-garde music concerned principally with shifting masses of sound and tone colours.Ligeti, the great-nephew of violinist Leopold Auer, studied and taught music in Hungary until the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, when he… Continue reading György Ligeti *V 28 1923 / The Life You Give
Davis’s early playing was sometimes tentative and not always fully in tune, but his unique, intimate tone and his fertile musical imagination outweighed his technical shortcomings. By the early 1950s Davis had turned his limitations into considerable assets. Rather than emulate the busy, wailing style of such bebop pioneers as Gillespie, Davis explored the trumpet’s… Continue reading Miles Davis *V 26 1926 / The Life You Give
by Elizabeth Rivero
One of the premier rock keyboardists of the progressive era, Rick Wakeman cut his teeth as a London session musician at the tail-end of the 1960s before earning star status as a member of prog rock superstars Yes in 1971. He left the band in 1973 to concentrate on his burgeoning solo career and within… Continue reading Rick Wakeman *V 18 1949 / The Life You Give
Erik Satie, born Eric Alfred Leslie Satie, on May 17, 1866, in Honfleur, Calvados, France, is the composer whose spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on 20th-century music, particularly in France.Satie studied at the Paris Conservatory, dropped out, and later worked as a café pianist. About 1890 he became associated with the… Continue reading Erik Satie *V 17 1866 / The Life You Give
Brian Eno, born Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, May 15, 1948, in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, is producer, composer, keyboardist, and singer who helped define and reinvent the sound of some of the most popular bands of the 1980s and ’90s and who created the genre of ambient music.While an… Continue reading The Life You Give: Brian Eno *1948
See english text below Salvador Dalí nació el 11 de mayo de 1904 a las 8,45 de la mañana en el pueblo de Figueres, Girona. Bautizado como Salvador, Domingo, Felipe, Jacinto Dalí, hijo de Salvador Dalí i Cusí, notario, y Felipa Doménech.Nació nueve meses y diez días exactos después de enterrado un primer Salvador Dalí,… Continue reading Salvador Dalí *V 11 1904 / La Vida Que Das — The Life You Give
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, also spelled Chaikovsky, Chaikovskii, or Tschaikowsky, born April 25 [May 7, New Style], 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia, is the most popular Russian composer of all time. His music has always had great appeal for the general public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and colourful, picturesque orchestration, all of… Continue reading Pyotr Tchaikovsky *V 7 1840 / The Life You Give
Johannes Brahms, (born May 7, 1833, Hamburg [Germany]—died April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now in Austria]), German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, choral compositions, and more than 200 songs. Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the… Continue reading Johannes Brahms *V 7 1833 / The Life You Give
Orson Welles, born George Orson Welles, May 6, 1915, Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.A., is the motion-picture actor, director, producer, and write who's innovative narrative techniques and use of photography, dramatic lighting, and music to further the dramatic line and to create mood made his Citizen Kane (1941)—which he wrote, directed, produced, and acted in—one of the… Continue reading Orson Welles *V 6 1915 — The Life You Give
Tim Hodgkinson (b. 1949) studied social anthropology at Cambridge, and co-founded the politically and musically radical group HENRY COW with Fred Frith in 1968. In addition to composing, he has a long involvement in improvisation, and came back to anthropology in the 1990's with research into music and shamanism in Siberia. He has participated in… Continue reading Tim Hodgkinson *V 1 1949 / The Life You Give
La danza es una de las expresiones humanas mas artísticas e intrínsecas en el mundo del arte. Aun asi, emula una necesidad primitiva. Esta puede ser el waltz expresado desde un campo Austriaco, los movimientos latinos en Cuba, aquellos en la pasion del tango Argentino, y el flamenco de Espana, o aquellos del Halay en… Continue reading International Dance Day / Día Internacional de la Danza
The first African-American woman whose music was played by a major symphony orchestra, Florence Price was a pioneering figure in 20th century American music. In the 21st century, her music has been performed increasingly often, especially since a large cache of her compositions was rediscovered in 2009.Price was born Florence Beatrice Smith in Little Rock,… Continue reading The Life You Give: Florence Price *1887
Giuseppe Tartini, born April 8, 1692, in Pirano, Istria, Republic of Venice [now Piran, Slovenia], is the violinist, composer, and theorist who helped establish the modern style of violin bowing and formulated principles of musical ornamentation and harmony.Tartini studied divinity and law at Padua and at the same time established a reputation as a fencer.… Continue reading The Life You Give: Giuseppe Tartini *1692
Billie Holiday, born Elinore Harris, on April 7, 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the jazz singer considered to have been one of the greatest from the 1930s to the ’50s.Eleanora (her preferred spelling) Harris was the daughter of Clarence Holiday, a professional musician who for a time played guitar with the Fletcher Henderson band. She… Continue reading Billie Holiday *IV 7 1915 – The Life You Give
Ravi Shankar, born Ravindra Shankar Chowdhury, on April 7, 1920, Benares [now Varanasi], India, is the musician, player of the sitar, composer, and founder of the National Orchestra of India, who was influential in stimulating Western appreciation of Indian music.Born into a Bengali Brahman (highest social class in Hindu tradition) family, Shankar spent most of… Continue reading The Life You Give: Ravi Shankar *1920
Herbert von Karajan, born April 5, 1908, in Salzburg, Austria, is the orchestra and opera conductor who was a leading international musical figure of the mid-20th century.A child prodigy on the piano, Karajan studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He made his professional conducting debut in 1929 at Salzburg, and he was appointed to a… Continue reading Herbert von Karajan *IV 5 1908 — The Life You Give
Sila Blume 