Artists
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Lili Boulanger *VIII 21 1893 / The Life You Give
Lili Boulanger was born on August 21, 1893 in Paris, France, to a musical family. Her mother, father, and sister Nadia were all trained composers or performers. When her father, Ernest, was only 20, he won the Prix de Rome. This coveted prize, which provided a year’s study in Rome, was the greatest recognition a…
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Jacopo Peri *VIII 20 1561 / The Life You Give
Jacopo Peri, byname Il Zazzerino, born August 20, 1561, in Rome or Florence, is the composer noted for his contribution to the development of dramatic vocal style in early Baroque opera. Under the early sponsorship of the Florentine Cristofano Malvezzi, Peri had published by 1583 both an instrumental work and a madrigal. After early posts…
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Kaikhosru Sorabji *VIII 14 1892 / The Life You Give
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji on August 14 1892, in Chingford, near London, England, is the eccentric English composer known for his complex musical works combining free rhythms, elements of Asiatic melodic construction, and European polyphonic structures. As a young man he became interested in his father’s Parsi heritage and changed his name…
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The Life You Give: Alfred Hitchcock *VIII 13 1899
Alfred Hitchcock, born August 13, 1899, London, England, is the motion-picture director whose suspenseful films and television programs won immense popularity and critical acclaim over a long and tremendously productive career. His films are marked by a macabre sense of humour and a somewhat bleak view of the human condition.Hitchcock grew up in London’s East…
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Ian Anderson *VIII 10 1947 / The Life You Give
Born Ian Scott Anderson, August 10 1947 in Dunfermline, Scotland, Anderson was interested in music from a young age, gaining influence from his father James’ record collection of big band and jazz, as well as early rock & roll by Elvis Presley. The Anderson family later relocated to Blackpool where Ian finished his studies. In…
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Cécile Chaminade *VIII 8 1857 / The Life You Give
Cécile Chaminade, born Aug. 8, 1857, in Paris, France, is the composer and pianist known chiefly for her piano music, which she performed on numerous concert tours, particularly in England.Chaminade’s earliest music studies were with her mother, a pianist and singer. Because her father forbade her enrollment in a conservatory, Chaminade studied composition privately with…
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Manitas de Plata *VIII 7 1921 / The Life You Give
When the guitarist Manitas de Plata became an international star in the 1960s, his was the name most widely associated with flamenco. At the time, music was classified as either popular or classical: the term “world music” had not been coined and the wizardry of the Gypsy from the south of France was regarded as…
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Louis Armstrong *VIII 4 1901 / The Life You Give
Louis Armstrong, born August 4 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., was leading trumpeter and one of the most influential artists in jazz history. He grew up in dire poverty in New Orleans, Louisiana, when jazz was very young. As a child he worked at odd jobs and sang in a boys’ quartet. In 1913…
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James Baldwin *VIII 2 1924 / The Life You Give
James Baldwin, born James Arthur Baldwin on August 2 1924 in New York, New York, is the essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in America made him an important voice, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the United States and, later, through much of western…
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Marcel Duchamp *VII 28 1887 / The Life You Give
Marcel Duchamp, born July 28, 1887, in Blainville, France, is the artist who broke down the boundaries between works of art and everyday objects. After the sensation caused by Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) (1912), he painted few other pictures. His irreverence for conventional aesthetic standards led him to devise his famous ready-mades and…
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Pablo Neruda *VII 11 1904 — La Vida Que Das / The Life You Give
See biography in English below El mundo de la literatura es grotescamente amplio, con una cantidad de autores que, a lo largo de los años, han aportado su pequeño grano de arena al mundo literario. Sin embargo, algunos son más reconocidos que otros por diversas razones, incluso para aquellas personas que no son muy allegadas…
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Gustav Mahler *VII 7 1860 / The Life You Give
Gustav Mahler, born July 7, 1860, in Kaliště, Bohemia, Austrian Empire, is the composer and conductor, noted for his 10 symphonies and various songs with orchestra, which drew together many different strands of Romanticism. Although his music was largely ignored for 50 years after his death, Mahler was later regarded as an important forerunner of…
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Frida Kahlo *VII 6 1907: The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
See English biography below Todos sabemos que las mujeres no pasaron a la historia del arte como debían. Muy pocas están en el Olimpo de los grandes artistas, pero sin duda hay excepciones y Frida Kahlo es una de ellas. Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón fue una de las pintoras más conocidas de Mexico…
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Anthony Bourdain *VI 25 1956 / The Life You Give
Anthony Bourdain, born Anthony Michael Bourdain, June 25, 1956, in New York City, New York, U.S.A., is the chef, author, and television personality who helped popularize “foodie” culture in the early 21st century through his books and television programs. Raised in New Jersey, Bourdain first took an interest in food when he ate an oyster…
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Harry Partch *VI 24 1901 / The Life You Give
Harry Partch, born June 24, 1901, in Oakland, Calif., U.S.A., is the visionary and eclectic composer and instrument builder, largely self-taught, whose compositions are remarkable for the complexity of their scores (each instrument has its own characteristic notation, often involving 43 tones to each octave) and their employment of unique instruments of his invention. Partch’s…
Sila Blume 