Music
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Days with David Bowie
I don’t have stylistic loyalty. That’s why people perceive me changing all the time. But there is a real continuity in my subject matter. As an artist of artifice, I do believe I have more integrity than any one of my contemporaries. David Bowie
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Days with David Bowie
All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it. David Bowie
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Days with David Bowie
As an adolescent, I was painfully shy, withdrawn. I didn’t really have the nerve to sing my songs on stage, and nobody else was doing them. I decided to do them in disguise so that I didn’t have to actually go through the humiliation of going on stage and being myself. David Bowie
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Days with David Bowie
A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle. David Bowie
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Jennifer Higdon *XII 31 1962 — The Life You Give
Jennifer Higdon is one of the leading composers in the USA from the turn of the 21st century era. Her earliest compositions date to the early ’80s, but she emerged as an important figure in the period of the new millennium with such orchestra works as blue cathedral (1999), City Scape (2002), and Concerto for…
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Pablo Casals *XII 29 1876 — The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
Pablo Casals, born Pau Casals i Defilló, on December 29, 1876, in Vendrell, Spain, was cellist and conductor, known for his virtuosic technique, skilled interpretation, and consummate musicianship. Biografía en español después de la foto Casals made his debut in Barcelona in 1891 after early training in composition, cello, and piano. After further study in…
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Mauricio Kagel *XII 24 1931 — The Life You Give
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Kagel proved to be one of the most versatile, creative, and witty composers to come of age in the second half of the twentieth century. He studied piano, theory, violoncello, organ, singing, and conducting, and was self-taught as a composer. Kagel also studied philosophy and literature extensively during his college…
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Adrian Belew *XII 23 1949 — The Life You Give
Lone Rhino One of the most unusual and forward-thinking guitarists of his time, Adrian Belew has played with some of rock’s biggest names (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson, and many more) while also attracting a die-hard following for his solo work. Belew incorporates a broad range of sounds and effects in which…
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Edita Gruberova *XII 23 1946 — The Life You Give
Edita Gruberova, born December 23, 1946, in Bratislava, was a Slovak soprano and one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, and ability to sing high notes with great power, making her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years. In recent years,…
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Giacomo Puccini *XII 22 1858 — The Life You Give
Giacomo Puccini, born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, December 22, 1858, in Lucca, Tuscany [Italy], is the composer, and one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left…
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Edgard Varèse *XII 22 1883 — The Life You Give
Edgard Varèse, born Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse on December 22 1883, in Paris, France, is the composer and innovator in 20th-century techniques of sound production. Varèse spent his boyhood in Paris, Burgundy, and Turin, Italy. After composing without formal instruction as a youth, he later studied under Vincent d’Indy, Albert Roussel, and Charles Widor…
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Frank Zappa *XII 21 1940 — The Life You Give
Frank Zappa, born Frank Vincent Zappa on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., was composer, guitarist, and satirist of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Zappa was, in no apparent order, a first-rate cultural gadfly dedicated to upsetting American suburban complacency and puncturing the hypocrisy and pretensions of both the U.S. political establishment and the…
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Paco de Lucía *XII 21 1947 — The Life You Give
The role of the flamenco guitar evolved considerably through the playing of Paco de Lucia (born Francisco Sanchez Gomez). The son of flamenco guitarist Antonio Sanchez and the brother of a flamenco guitarist, Ramón de Algeciras, and flamenco singer, Pepe de Lucia, Paco de Lucia extended the former accompaniment-only tradition of flamenco guitar to include…
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András Schiff *XII 21 1953 — The Life You Give
András Schiff is among the most prominent members of a generation of Hungarian pianists born in the years following World War II, along with such artists as Zoltán Kocsis, Dezso Ránki, and Jenö Jandó. Of this remarkable group, Schiff has achieved the strongest international reputation, due not only to his decision to pursue his career…
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always musically, never mechanically
the main elements of piano playing, tone production, and self-control; how to listen to [oneself] and how to practise well, without wasting time, always musically, never mechanically. – András Schiff
Sila Blume 