Birthdays & Events February 16th - February 19th

Feb 16th:

1684 Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský, monk/composer
1709 Charles Avison
1774 Pierre Rode
1790 Chretien Urhan
1813 Semyon Stepanovich Gulak-Artemovsky
1826 Franz von Holstein
1836 Benjamin Edward Woolf
1847 Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka
1854 Oscar Fetras
1856 Willem Kes, violinist/composer/conductor
1866 Johann Strauss
1874 Marie Gutheil-Schoder, soprano
1878 Selim Palmgren, pianist/composer/conductor 
1890 Semyon Semyonovich Bogatiryov
1896 Alexander Brailowsky, pianist
1905 José Muñoz Molleda, composer/journalist/jurist/politician
1907 Fernando Previtali
1910 Miguel Bernal Jiminez
1912 Machito "Frank Grillo", bandleader (salsa)
1916 Bill Doggett, jazz and blues musician
1916 William Ballard Doggett, jazz musician
1922 Geraint Evans, opera vocalist
1932 Otis Blackwell, composer/singer
1935 Sonny Bono
1938 John Corigliano
1942 Gabriel Brncic
1943 Anthony Dowell, ballet dancer (Royal Ballet)
1955 Jeff Clayton, jazz saxophonist/composer
1961 Andy Taylor, guitarist (Duran Duran)

Events:

1854 Franz Liszt's symphony "Orpheus" premieres
1892 Opera "Werther" premieres in Vienna
1947 Premiere of Morton Gould's Symphony No. 3
1962 Premiere of Darius Milhaud's Symphony No. 12 


Feb 17th:

1444 Rudolf Agricola, Dutch humanist/organist
1653 Arcangelo Corelli
1667 Georg Bronner
1675 Johann Melchior Conradi
1696 Ernst Gottlieb Baron, composer
1697 Louis-Maurice de La Pierre
1747 Narciso Casanovas
1754 Jan Jachym Kopriva
1796 Giovanni Pacini
1816 Friedrich Wilhelm Markull
1820 Henri Vieuxtemps
1821 Lola Montez, dancer
1831 Francisco Salvador Daniel,
1850 Anton Urspruch
1850 Ludwig Bonvin
1858 Ernest Ford
1862 Edward German
1882 Kurt Schindler
1887 Leevi Antti Madetoja
1902 Marian Anderson, contralto
1906 Ramon Tapales
1907 Alec Wilder
1909 Marjorie Lawrence, soprano
1913 Oskar Danon
1913 Rene Leibowitz
1915 Homer Keller
1920 Paul Fetler
1925 Ron Goodwin, composer/conductor
1926 Friedrich Cerha
1926 Lee Hoiby
1930 Usko Merilainen
1941 Gene Pitney, vocalist/songwriter
1944 Karl Jenkins
1949 Fred Frith, guitarist/violinist/bassist
1957 Loreena McKennitt, vocalist/musician/songwriter
1967 Chanté Moore, American singer
1971 Martyn Bennett

Events:

1859 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres in Napoli
1904 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" premieres in Milan
1916 Romberg/Hanley/Atteridge/Smith's musical premieres in NYC
1932 Irving Berlin's musical "Face the Music" premieres in NYC


Feb 18th:

1632 Giovanni Battista Vitali
1716 Gaspard Fritz
1751 Karl Haack
1770 Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck
1771 Friedrich Christian Ruppe, composer and violinist
1776 John Parry
1819 Joseph Philbrick Webster
1841 Samuel Prowse Warren
1850 George Henschel
1880 Eric De Lamarter
1902 Walter Herbert, conductor and impresario
1915 Marcel Landowsky
1926 Harry "Little" Caesar, blues singer/actor
1927 Tabe Bas, actor/opera vocalist (Leiser Wolf in Anatevka)
1929 André Mathieu
1931 Dieter Schonbach
1933 Elisabeth S Belder-Ameling, soprano
1933 Yoko Ono
1934 (Clyde) Skip Battin, rocker (Byrds)
1934 Aldo Ceccato, conductor
1939 Marlos Nobre
1939 Marek Janowski, conductor
1952 Juice Newton, vocalist
1953 Robin Bachman, guitarist
1964 Paul Hanley, musician (The Fall, Tom Hingley and the Lovers)
1965 Dr. Dre (Andre Romelle Young), American rapper and record producer
1980 Regina Spektor, Russian-born singer and songwriter

Events:

1735 First opera performed in America, "Flora", in Charleston, SC
1902 The opera "Hunchback of Notre Dame" premieres in Monte Carlo
1947 Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Telephone" premieres in NYC
1968 David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd


Feb 19th:

1616 Jacques de Saint-Luc
1671 Charles-Hubert Gervais
1687 Johann Adam Birkenstock
1743 Luigi Boccherini
1762 Friedrich Franz Hurka
1812 Lauro Rossi
1841 Felipe Pedrell
1843 Adelina Patti, soprano
1863 Emanuel Moor
1877 Louis Francois-Marie Aubert
1880 Arthur Shepherd
1881 Armin Knab
1886 George Luther Foote
1906 Grace Mary Williams
1906 Hendrik W C Spruit, conductor
1911 Nikola Hercigonja
1912 Saul Chapli
1913 Alvin Derold Etler
1921 Claude Rene Georges Pascal
1922 Josef Matej
1923 Donald Lybbert
1925 Jindrich Feld
1926 Gyorgy Kurtag
1932 Jean-Pierre Ponnele, opera director
1941 Carlos Roque Alsina
1948 Tony Iommi, guitarist (Black Sabbath)
1954 Frances Bucholz, rocker (Scorpions)
1971 Gil Shaham, violinist

Events:

1736 George Frideric Handel's "Alexander's Feast" premieres
1914 Riccardo Zandonai's opera "Francesco da Rimini" premieres in Turin
1923 Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 6 (my personal favorite!) premieres