Today's Birthdays in Music: May 10 (Babbitt, M. Shostakovich)

1916 - Milton Babbitt, Philadelphia, U.S.A.; composer

Wiki entry
Biography
Interview

Milton Babbitt's Fanfare For All (Meridian Arts Ensemble in Timosoara, Romania. November 2007)



1938 - Maxim Shostakovich, Leningrad, Russia; pianist & conductor

Wiki entry
Maxim Shostakovich on his father's 7th Symphony

Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, 4th mvt. Maxim Shostakovich conducts I Musici de Montréal. Pianist is Dmitri Shostakovich, Jr.

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 9 (Giulini, von Otter)

1814 - Carlo Maria Giulini, Barletta, Italy; conductor

Biography & pictures

Giulini rehearsing Bruckner's Ninth Symphony with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1997



1955 - Anne Sofie von Otter, Stockholm, Sweden; opera & concert mezzo-soprano

Biography & pictures

Anne Sophie von Otter sings Schubert's Erlkoenig (excerpt)

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 8 (Gottschalk, Cossutta)

1829 - Louis Gottschalk, New Orleans, U.S.A.; pianist and composer

Biography

Organist Jelani Eddington and pianist David Harris play Louis Moreau Gottschalk's "Grand Tarantelle" (Grace Baptist Church, Sarasota, Florida)



1932 - Carlo Cossutta, Trieste, Italy; opera tenor

Biography

Carlo Cossutta sings "Di Quella Pira" from Verdi's Il Trovatore

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 7 (Brahms, Tchaikovsky)

1833 - Johannes Brahms, Hamburg, Germany; composer

Wiki entry

A mini-biopic of Johannes Brahms. The music is his Hungarian Dance no.11


Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, 3rd movement (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini conducting)



1870 - Piotr Tchaikovsky, Votkinsk, Russia; composer

Wiki entry
Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovksy's 1812 overture - Berliner Philharmoniker. Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Rocco Rilippini plays Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana led by Karl Anton Rickenbacher


Soprano Egle Chisiu and baritone Nauris Indzeris sing the final duet of Tatyana and Onegin from Eugene Onegin - Klaipeda Opera Theatre (Lithuania), August 2007(Conductor - I.Lapinsch)



Ramon Flowers performs "Trepack" from The Nutcracker (production of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Montreal, Canada)

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 6 (Ridout, Dimitrova)

1918 - Godfrey Ridout, Toronto, Canada; composer

Biography

Fall Fair by Godfrey Ridout, performed in Beijing by the Toronto High School Oakwood Symphony Orchestra



1941 - Ghena Dimitrova, Beglej, Bulgaria; opera soprano

Wiki entry
Official website

Ghena Dimitrova sings "In questa reggia" from Puccini's Turandot, La Scala 1983 (Placido Domingo as Calaf)

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 5 (Böhme, Caniglia)

1908 - Kurt Böhme, Dresden, Germany; opera bass

Biography

Duet from Smetana's The Bartered Bride: Kurt Böhme as Kezal and Fritz Wunderlich as Jenik (Berlin, 1966)



1905 - Maria Caniglia, Naples, Italy; opera soprano

Wiki entry

Maria Caniglia sings "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Catalani's La Wally

Today's Birthdays in Music: May 4 (Cristofori, Peters)

1655 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Padua, Italy; instrument maker (built the first playable piano)

Wiki entry

Grand Piano, 1720. Built by Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence, Italy

1930 - Roberta Peters, New York, USA; opera soprano

Wiki entry

Roberta Peters sings Adina's aria "Prendi, per me sei libero" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (New Jersey, 1989)