Born Today! 17.07.2023

Jean Claude Michel Casadesus (17 July 1927 – 20 January 1972) was a French classical pianist. He was the son of the renowned pianists Robert and Gaby Casadesus, and grandnephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus. Jean Casadesus was born in Paris. He was taught to play piano by his parents and studied at the Conservatoire de Paris before going to the United States to continue his studies at Princeton University. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy in 1947 and thereafter enjoyed success as a concert pianist and also as a piano teacher, principally at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau. His notable students include Robert D. Levin. From 1965 until his death, Casadesus was artist in residence and instructor at the New York State University at Binghamton.Jean and his parents performed Mozart's concertos for 2 and 3 pianos. They recorded these works with the Columbia Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell and with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy. In 1953 he married Evie Girard, the daughter of the painter André Girard. Jean and Evie Casadesus had one child, a daughter Agnès.Jean Casadesus died in a car crash near Renfrew, Ontario Canada on January 20, 1972. He was a passenger in one vehicle traveling between engagements. The driver was attempting to pass another vehicle when he collided head-on with another car immediately killing that vehicle's two occupants and Casadesus. Robert Casadesus died in September 1972 in Paris. Both men are buried in the family plot in Recloses, department of Seine-et-Marne, approximately 73 kilometres (45 mi) southeast of Paris. Gaby, who died in 1999, is also buried there.

Toshimitsu Tanaka (田中 利光, Tanaka Toshimitsu, 17 July 1930 – 30 July 2020) was a Japanese composer from Aomori, Aomori. He graduated from Kunitachi College of Music with a major in composition.His "Two Movements for Marimba", composed in 1965, was awarded the Encouraging Prize of the National Arts Festival for the Centennial Anniversary of the Meiji Period (1968), and the Supreme Prize of the National Arts Festival in 1969. The piece was recorded by Evelyn Glennie in April 1990 for her 1991 album release Light in Darkness. His music is typical of the Japanese marimba repertoire.Tanaka was a professor of Composition Department at Kunitachi College of Music as well as Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.

Wojciech Kilar (Polish: [ˈvɔjt͡ɕɛx ˈkʲilar]; 17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award and the nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Music. In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Film Music written for The Pianist, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination.

Gianluca Cascioli (born 17 July 1979 in Turin, Italy) is an Italian pianist, conductor, and composer. He studied composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin and piano with Franco Scala. In 1994, Cascioli won the Umberto Micheli International Piano Competition, whose jury included Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Charles Rosen, and Maurizio Pollini. The prize included a record contract with Deutsche Grammophon, for whom he recorded three CDs in his late teens. He has appeared as a piano soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and numerous other orchestras worldwide. Conductors he has worked with include Claudio Abbado, Roberto Abbado, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Roberto Carnevale, Mstislav Rostropovich, Neville Marriner, and many others. His chamber-music partners have included Maxim Vengerov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Stefano Mollo, the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, and many others. He has conducted the Deutsche Kammerorchester Frankfurt, and among compositions of his to be performed are a Sonatina (2004) premiered at the Hamburg Musikfest, Variations for Piano, premiered in Japan, and a Symphony premiered in Italy, as well as a Violin and Piano Sonata premiered in Italy with Stefano Mollo. His discography includes three CDs for DG, a recording of the original Fantasie version of the Schumann Piano Concerto with Mario Venzago and the Basel Symphony Orchestra for Hanssler, a CD of Chopin for Decca, and a CD of Debussy Préludes, Children's Corner, and other works for Decca.