Artists
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Oscar Wilde *X 16 1854 — The Life You Give
Oscar Wilde, born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, October 16, 1854, Dublin, Ireland—died November 30, 1900, Paris, France), Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a…
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Paul Simon *X 13 1941 — The Life You Give
Paul Simon, born Paul Frederic Simon, October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A., is the singer-songwriter who brought a highbrow sensibility to rock music. One of the most paradoxical figures in rock-and-roll history, Simon exemplified many of the principles against which the music initially reacted. From his first big hit, “The Sounds of Silence,”…
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan *X 13 1948 — The Life You Give
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan, October 13, 1948, in Lyallpur [now Faisalabad], Pakistan, is the singer considered to have been one of the greatest performers of qawwali, a Sufi Muslim devotional music characterized by simple melodies, forceful rhythms, and energetic improvisations that encourage a state of euphoria in the listener. Nusrat’s…
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Alberto Giacometti *X 10 1901 – The Life You Give
Alberto Giacometti, born October 10, 1901, in Borgonovo, Switzerland, is the sculptor and painter, best known for his attenuated sculptures of solitary figures. His work has been compared to that of the existentialists in literature. Giacometti displayed precocious talent and was much encouraged by his father, Giovanni, a Post-Impressionist painter, and by his godfather, Cuno…
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Thelonious Monk *X 10 1917 — The Life You Give
Thelonious Monk, born Thelonious Sphere Monk, on October 10 1917, in Rocky Mount, N.C., U.S.A., is the pianist and composer who was among the first creators of modern jazz. As the pianist in the band at Minton’s Playhouse, a nightclub in New York City, in the early 1940s, Monk had great influence on the other…
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Giuseppe Verdi *X 9/10 1813 — The Life You Give
Giuseppe Verdi, born Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, October 9/10, 1813, Roncole, near Busseto, duchy of Parma , Italy, is the leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his…
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Robert Wilson *X 4 1941 — The Life You Give
Robert Wilson, born October 4, 1941, in Waco, Texas, U.S.A., is the playwright, director, and producer, known for his avant-garde theatre works. Wilson studied business administration at the University of Texas at Austin, but he dropped out in 1962 and moved to New York City to pursue his interest in the arts. After earning a…
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Steve Reich *X 3 1936 — The Life You Give
Steve Reich, born Stephen Michael Reich, October 3, 1936, in New York, New York, U.S.A., is the composer who was one of the leading exponents of Minimalism, a style based on repetitions and combinations of simple motifs and harmonies. Reich was the son of an attorney and a singer-lyricist. He majored in philosophy at Cornell…
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Bryan Ferry *IX 26 1945 — The Life You Give
While fronting Roxy Music in the 1970s and early ’80s, Bryan Ferry devised a blueprint for art rock, and as a solo performer, he brilliantly updated the parameters of the pop songbook. Although Ferry’s solo career has included several excellent self-penned tracks, he’s best-known for his adventurous interpretations of songs from the rock and pop…
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Mark Rothko * IX 25 1903 — The Life You Give
Mark Rothko, born September 25, 1903, in Dvinsk, Russian Empire [now Daugavpils, Latvia], is the painter whose works introduced contemplative introspection into the melodramatic post-World War II Abstract Expressionist school. His use of color as the sole means of expression led to the development of Color Field Painting. Early life and education Rothko was born…
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Pedro Almodóvar *IX 25 1949 — The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
Pedro Almodóvar, born Pedro Mercedes Almodóvar Caballero, September 25, 1949, in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain, is the filmmaker known for colourful melodramatic films that often feature sexual themes. As a young man, Almodóvar moved to Madrid with the hopes of attending the Spanish national film school, but it had recently been closed under dictator Francisco…
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Ray Charles *IX 23 1930 — The Life You Give
Ray Charles, born Ray Charles Robinson, September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia, U.S.A., is the pianist, singer, composer, bandleader, and leading entertainer billed as “the Genius” who was credited with the early development of soul music, a style based on a melding of gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz music. When Charles was an infant…
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Francesca Caccini *IX 18 1587 — The Life You Give
Francesca Caccini, also called Francesca Signorini, Francesca Signorini-Malaspina, or Francesca Raffaelli, byname La Cecchina, born September 18, 1587, in Florence, Italy, is the composer and singer who was one of only a handful of women in 17th-century Europe whose compositions were published. The most significant of her compositions—published and unpublished—were produced during her employment at…
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Vladimir Horowitz *IX 18 1903 / The Life You Give
Vladimir Horowitz, born September 18 [Old Style], 1903, in Berdichev, Russia [now in Ukraine], is the virtuoso pianist in the Romantic tradition who was celebrated for his flawless technique and an almost orchestral quality of tone. Horowitz’s performances of works by Franz Liszt, Sergey Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, Aleksandr Scriabin, Domenico Scarlatti, and Sergey Prokofiev were…
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Jessye Norman *IX 15 1945 — The Life You Give
Jessye Norman, born Jessye Mae Norman on September 15, 1945, in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., is the operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career. Norman was reared in a musical family. Both her mother and grandmother were pianists and her father sang in church, as did the…
Sila Blume 