Born Today! 20.12.2023

František Xaver Pokorný (20 December 1729, Městec Králové – 2 July 1794, Regensburg) was a Czech composer and violinist of the classical period. While young, he left his hometown for Regensburg where he studied violin playing with Joseph Riepel. In 1750 he went to Wallerstein, where he played violin in the Oettingen-Wallerstein court orchestra. In 1753 he went to Mannheim where he further studied with Johann Stamitz and Ignaz Holzbauer among others. After the death of Philip Charles Domenic Oettingen-Wallerstein in 1766 he asked for permission to leave the court for three to four years. He spent the last part of his life in the orchestra of Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, again in Regensburg. Nearly 150 symphonies are attributed to him, but his authorship is disputed for more than fifty of these, as after his death his surname was erased from his works and replaced by names of other authors by Theodor von Schacht, intendant of the Regensburg orchestra. Furthermore, many works for wind instruments, tens of solo concertos including 45 for harpsichord and 3 for two horns are attributed to him.

Joseph Schubert (20 December 1754 – 28 July 1837) was a German composer, violinist, and violist. Schubert was born in Varnsdorf, Bohemia (now Czech Republic) to a musical family. He received his early musical education from his father, who was a cantor, and then in Prague. In 1778, he moved to Berlin to study the violin with Paul Kohn, director of the royal orchestra there. In 1779, Schubert obtained a position as violinist in the court of Heinrich Friedrich, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. In 1788, he accepted a post as violist in the court orchestra of Dresden, where he remained until his death in 1837. Schubert gained recognition as a versatile composer, cited in the 1812 edition of Ernst Ludwig Gerber's lexicon of composers. His œuvre includes 15 masses, 4 operas, 17 sonatas, and 49 concertos for solo instruments. The Saxon State Library in Dresden holds the manuscripts of three viola concertos attributed to him.

Pietro Raimondi (December 20, 1786, Rome – October 30, 1853) was an Italian composer, transitional between the Classical and Romantic eras. While he was famous at the time as a composer of operas and sacred music, he was also as an innovator in contrapuntal technique as well as in creation of gigantic musical simultaneities. He was the director of the Palermo Conservatory from 1833-1852.Raimondi was born in Rome, and received his early education in Naples. He spent part of his early career in Genoa, and then in Sicily, where he had operas performed in Catania and Messina; however he moved back to Naples in 1820, and began a career as an opera composer there. While he was best known as an opera composer during this time, he was obsessed with counterpoint, and spent his spare time writing fugues for many voices, as well as simultaneous fugues in different keys and modes for multiple groups of different instruments. He considered this work to be experimental, and did not incorporate his experimentation, early in his career, into his operas. Few of Raimondi's operas were successful, and as soon as he realized he was being eclipsed by Rossini, and later by Bellini and Donizetti, he changed his compositional direction from production of operas to sacred music; in that domain he had a better opportunity to indulge his love of counterpoint. He published a counterpoint treatise in 1836, around the same time as the first of his experimental compositions for multiple choruses and orchestras; from this year forward he devoted most of his energies to such creations. However he had not forgotten his previous career as an operatic composer, and made a few last attempts to achieve a success on the operatic stage. One of the most spectacular of his experiments in musical simultaneity was his triple oratorio, Putifar-Giuseppe-Giacobbe (1848). This work was a set of three independent oratorios designed to be performed first consecutively, and then simultaneously, one of the few such experiments before the music of Charles Ives in the twentieth century. Unlike the music of Ives, however, Raimondi's musical language was conservative, even anachronistic, using only the tonal language of the eighteenth century. The parts of the oratorios were designed to fit together tightly, all obeying the standard rules of counterpoint. The triple oratorio was first performed in Rome in 1852, in a concert lasting six hours, and requiring 430 performers. According to the contemporary account, Raimondi was so overcome with the colossal sound of the three oratorios together at the end that he fainted, and the concert caused the sensation he had desired for so long. As a result of this success he was honored by the Pope, receiving from him the position of maestro di cappella at St. Peter's, a level of acknowledgement he had never achieved in the operatic realm. Raimondi followed the triple oratorio with the composition of a double opera, one serious and one comical, which like the triple oratorio was designed to be performed either consecutively or simultaneously. This work (Adelasia/I quattro rustici) was left incomplete at his death in 1853; however, much of the orchestration, counterpoint, and many of the scene changes had been worked out. As conceived, each opera would have served as a commentary on the other. This double opera has never been completed or staged, and along with Raimondi's other late music is an example of an experimental trend in the middle nineteenth century which was never followed up by anyone else. In his actual musical language, Raimondi was conservative, and his simultaneities work by following traditional rules of counterpoint, as well as by staying in a limited tonal universe. Raimondi makes a dramatic appearance in Michael Ayrton's satirical novel Tittivulus.

Achille Peri (20 December 1812 – 28 March 1880) was an Italian composer and conductor. He is best known for his operas which were strongly influenced by the music of Giuseppe Verdi.

Henry Kimball Hadley (20 December 1871 – 6 September 1937) was an American composer and conductor.

Domingo Julio Liberato Macario Gómez García (20 December 1886 in Madrid – 22 December 1973) was a Spanish composer.

Harrison Leslie Adams, Jr. (born December 30, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer. His works have been performed by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Indianapolis Symphony, and commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and the Center for Black Music Research, among others. Metropolitan Opera artists have performed his vocal works internationally. He has also received composition awards from the National Association of Negro Women and the Christian Arts National Competition for Choral Music. Adams is best known for writing music for voice (including choral music, art songs, vocal solos, and music drama) but has also written numerous purely instrumental compositions as well. Adams's music is composed largely within the tradition of Western classical music and also incorporates elements unique to African-American music.

Roger Robert Woodward (born 20 December 1942) is an Australian classical and avant-garde pianist, composer, conductor and teacher. In his early life, Woodward received piano lessons in Sydney, initially from Winifred Pope. His immersion in Bach's works led him to the Sydney Conservatorium, where he studied under notable figures such as Alexander Sverjensky and Raymond Hanson. In 1963, he graduated with distinction, founding the Sydney Piano Competition shortly afterward. Woodward continued his studies in Warsaw, befriending Cuban pedagogue Jorge Luis Herrero Dante and collaborating with Cuban composers. His career blossomed as he toured internationally, performing with renowned orchestras and collaborating with distinguished composers like Stockhausen, Xenakis and Takemitsu. He gained recognition for his unorthodox programming, integrating new and traditional works in concerts. His commitment to new music and advocacy for human rights, notably in support of the Solidarność Movement in Poland, became defining aspects of his artistic identity. Throughout the years, Woodward faced challenges, including a ban in Eastern Europe due to his association with the Solidarność movement. However, his dedication to new music and collaborations with eminent artists continued. He has been recognised with numerous awards and honours, including Companion of the Order of Australia and Commander Cross, Order of Merit, Republic of Poland.

Dame Mitsuko Uchida, DBE (内田光子, [ɯtɕida miꜜtsɯ̥ko]; born 20 December 1948) is a Japanese-British classical pianist and conductor. Born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, she is particularly notable for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repertory with several labels, won numerous awards and honours (including Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2009) and is the Co-Artistic Director, with Jonathan Biss, of the Marlboro Music School and Festival. She has also conducted several major orchestras.

Gabriela Ortiz (born 1964) is a Mexican music educator and composer.