Celebration Day
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The Life You Give: Anthony Bourdain *1956
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…
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Barbara *VI 9 1930 — The Life You Give
Although Barbara certainly didn’t like the thought of it, she actually was part of the legendary club formed by her friend Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, and Edith Piaf. A truly generous and humble woman, Barbara insisted on living up to her audience’s expectations and was constantly questioning her success. As an artist, she…
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The Life You Give: Aleksandr Pushkin *1799
Aleksandr Pushkin, born Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, May 26 [June 6, New Style], 1799, Moscow, Russia, is the poet, novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer, often considered his country’s greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin’s father came of an old boyar family; his mother was a granddaughter of Abram Hannibal, who, according to…
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Thomas Mann *VI 6 1875 / The Life You Give
Thomas Mann, (born June 6, 1875, Lübeck, Germany—died August 12, 1955, near Zürich, Switzerland), German novelist and essayist whose early novels—Buddenbrooks (1900), Der Tod in Venedig (1912; Death in Venice), and Der Zauberberg (1924; The Magic Mountain)—earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. Early literary endeavoursMann’s father died in 1891, and Mann moved…
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Federico García Lorca *V 5 1898 — La Vida Que Das / The Life You Give
See English text below Federico García Lorca (Fuentevaqueros, 5 de junio de 1898 – camino Víznar a Alfacar, 1936). Poeta y dramaturgo español, adscrito a la generación del 27. Desde pequeño entra en contacto con las artes a través de la música y el dibujo. En 1915 comienza a estudiar Filosofía y Letras, así como…
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Martha Argerich *VI 5 1941 — La Vida Que Das / The Life You Give
Martha Argerich, (born June 5, 1941, Buenos Aires, Argentina), Argentine pianist known for her recordings and performances of chamber music, particularly of works by Olivier Messiaen, Sergey Prokofiev, and Sergey Rachmaninoff. A prodigy, Argerich was performing professionally by age eight. In 1955 she went to Europe, where her teachers included Friedrich Gulda and Arturo Benedetti…
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The Life You Give: Cecilia Bartoli *1966
Cecilia Bartoli, born June 4, 1966, in Rome, Italy), is an operatic mezzo-soprano who achieved global stardom with her outstanding vocal skills and captivating stage presence. Both of Bartoli’s parents were members of the Rome Opera chorus, and she joked that when she was a child, her babysitters were the likes of Rossini and Verdi.…
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The Life You Give: Dagmar Krause *1950
It seems odd to consider the work of Dagmar Krause as specifically rock, mainly due to her superb talent singing non-rock popular music. It is because of her association with German progressive rockers Slapp Happy, and British avant-garde prog rockers Henry Cow and the Art Bears that Krause becomes a suitable subject for inclusion in…
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The Life You Give: Josephine Baker *1906
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…
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The Life You Give: Edward Elgar *1857
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…
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The Life You Give: Mikhail Glinka *1804
Mikhail Glinka, born Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, May 21 [June 1, New Style], 1804, in Novospasskoye, Russia, is the first Russian composer to have won international recognition and the acknowledged founder of the Russian nationalist school. Glinka first became interested in music at age 10 or 11, when he heard his uncle’s private orchestra. He studied…
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Shirley Verrett *V 31 1931 / The Life You Give
Shirley Verrett was one of America’s finest opera stars and recital singers, and was one of the remarkable generation of great African-American singers who came to international prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied voice in Los Angeles with Anna Fitziu and Hall Johnson. In 1955, she won the nationally broadcast CBS program Arthur…
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John Bonham *V 31 1948 / The Life You Give
Drummer John Bonham, often referred to by his nickname “Bonzo,” was one of the most important and influential drummers of the 1960s and ’70s — as a member of Led Zeppelin, he was also a bona fide superstar for the last decade of his life and, along with Ringo Starr of the Beatles, Charlie Watts…
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Pauline Oliveros *V 30 1932 The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
Pauline Oliveros, born May 30, 1932, in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., is the composer and performer known for conceiving a unique, meditative, improvisatory approach to music called “deep listening.” Oliveros was raised in a family that encouraged involvement with music. At age 10 she was introduced to the accordion by her mother, who was a pianist.…
Sila Blume 