Born Today! 29.04.2024

Mary Anne à Beckett (29 April 1815 – 11 December 1863) was an English composer, primarily known for opera. She was the wife of the writer Gilbert à Beckett, who provided the libretti for two of her operas. Their children included the writers Gilbert Arthur à Beckett and Arthur William à Beckett. Her theatrical connections included her brother, the actor and producer impresario Augustus Glossop Harris, and his eldest son, also an impresario, Sir Augustus Harris.

Carl (or Karl) Joseph Millöcker ((1842-04-29)29 April 1842 – (1899-12-31)31 December 1899), was an Austrian composer of operettas and a conductor. He was born in Vienna, where he studied the flute at the Vienna Conservatory. While holding various conducting posts in the city, he began to compose operettas. The first was Der tote Gast, an operetta in one act, premiered in 1865 with libretto by Ludwig Harisch, after the novel by Heinrich Zschokke. The international success of Der Bettelstudent enabled him to retire from conducting. However, he never achieved a comparable success afterward. Carl Millöcker died in Baden bei Wien; on 31 December 1899. He was buried in an honorary grave in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof cemetery (group 32, A35).

Henry Schradieck (29 April 1846 – 25 May 1918) was a German violinist, music pedagogue and composer. He was one of the foremost violin teachers of his day. He wrote a series of etude books for the violin which are still in common use today.

František Ondříček (29 April 1857 – 12 April 1922) was a Czech violinist and composer. He gave the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák, and his achievements were recognised by the rare award of honorary membership of the Philharmonic Society of London (now the Royal Philharmonic Society) in 1891. His younger brother Karel Ondříček (b. 1865) for a while lead the orchestra of the National Theatre, Prague, and was to go on to have a successful musical career in the USA. František Ondříček was born in Prague, the son of the violinist and conductor Jan Ondříček. He studied at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz, and was then supported by Henryk Wieniawski through two years studying at the Paris Conservatoire with Lambert Massart. He shared a first prize with Achille Rivarde. He was the soloist in the first performance of Dvořák's Violin Concerto, Op. 53 in Prague on 14 October 1883, and performed it again in Vienna on 2 December. In the late 1880s he settled in Vienna, where he taught. He also published a technical treatise on violin technique in 1909. After World War I, Ondříček returned to Prague, where he directed the violin masterclass at the Prague Conservatory. Notable students include composer Karel Navrátil. See: List of music students by teacher: N to Q#František Ondříček. He died in Milan. As well as being a highly regarded violinist, Ondříček was also a composer, his works including a set of Bohemian Dances Op. 3 for violin and piano composed in 1883, a Bohemian Rhapsody Op. 21 for violin and piano from 1906, and a String Quartet Op. 22 from 1907. He also left cadenzas for several violin concertos, including those of Mozart and Brahms.

Paul Alfred Rubens (29 April 1875 – 5 February 1917) was an English songwriter and librettist who wrote some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies of the early twentieth century. He contributed to the success of dozens of musicals. Born in Kensington, London, he attended Winchester College before studying law at University College, Oxford. He began writing songs for shows at the age of 10 and had his first major success with "The Little Chinchilla" for the hit musical The Shop Girl when he was 19 years old. This was soon followed by songs for, among others, the hit musical San Toy. In 1899, he wrote songs for the international hit Florodora, which brought him wider fame. Producer George Edwardes hired him as an "additional material" writer for, among others, The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), A Country Girl (1902), The Girl from Kays (1902), The School Girl (1903), The Cingalee (1904) and The Blue Moon (1905), writing some of the most successful songs in these shows. He composed the hit musical Miss Hook of Holland (1907). Later compositions include The Balkan Princess (1910), The Sunshine Girl (1912), The Girl from Utah (1913), Tonight's the Night (1914), Betty (1915) and The Happy Day (1916). Rubens began a relationship with the actress Phyllis Dare during this period, but they soon parted due to Rubens' severe consumptive illness, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. As a result, he retired to Cornwall and died of tuberculosis, aged 41.

Paul Alfred Rubens (29 April 1875 – 5 February 1917) was an English songwriter and librettist who wrote some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies of the early twentieth century. He contributed to the success of dozens of musicals. Born in Kensington, London, he attended Winchester College before studying law at University College, Oxford. He began writing songs for shows at the age of 10 and had his first major success with "The Little Chinchilla" for the hit musical The Shop Girl when he was 19 years old. This was soon followed by songs for, among others, the hit musical San Toy. In 1899, he wrote songs for the international hit Florodora, which brought him wider fame. Producer George Edwardes hired him as an "additional material" writer for, among others, The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), A Country Girl (1902), The Girl from Kays (1902), The School Girl (1903), The Cingalee (1904) and The Blue Moon (1905), writing some of the most successful songs in these shows. He composed the hit musical Miss Hook of Holland (1907). Later compositions include The Balkan Princess (1910), The Sunshine Girl (1912), The Girl from Utah (1913), Tonight's the Night (1914), Betty (1915) and The Happy Day (1916). Rubens began a relationship with the actress Phyllis Dare during this period, but they soon parted due to Rubens' severe consumptive illness, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. As a result, he retired to Cornwall and died of tuberculosis, aged 41.

Waldemar Kazanecki ([valˈdɛmar kazaˈnɛtski]; born 29 April 1929 in Warsaw, Poland, died 20 December 1991 in Warsaw) was a Polish pianist, conductor and composer.

Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighbouring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aboriginal Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 18 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was often characterised by its distinctive use of percussion. As one of the compositional pioneers of a distinctively Australian sound, Sculthorpe and his music have been likened to the role played by Aaron Copland in America's musical coming of age.

Otto Matthäus Zykan (29 April 1935, Vienna – 25 May 2006, Sachsendorf, Burgschleinitz-Kühnring) was an Austrian composer and pianist. The son of composer Otto Zykan (1902–1989), Otto M Zykan received his first piano lessons from his father, and from 1940 he was taught by his paternal grandmother, who had been a student of Theodor Leschetizky. He joined the Vienna Boys Choir and studied at the Vienna Music Academy where his teachers included Karl Schiske (composition), Bruno Seidlhofer and Josef Dichler (piano). He also attended the Darmstadt summer courses (1958, 1964–1966), winning the Kranichstein Music Prize of the international piano competition on his first visit. In 1967, working with H.K. Gruber and Kurt Schwertsik, Zykan co-founded the Salonkonzerte Group and associated ensembles such as MOB art & tone ART (sometimes termed the 'Third Viennese School') to further his ideas about ‘instrumental theatre’, music that aimed for closer links between performance, music and language. These 'total art productions', influenced by Dadaism and analogous to the music theatre productions of Mauricio Kagel, were often composed in the form of sketch-like drafts. Depending as they did on personal interpretation Zykan discouraged any performances without his direct involvement. The music theatre piece Symphonie aus der Heilen Welt was first produced in 1977. In the same year his satirical television play Staatsoperette, directed by Franz Novotny, caused a scandal. More conventionally, Zykan also composed opera, orchestral, concerto and instrumental music, as well as film scores. One of his earliest works was a piano concerto using serial techniques, which won a prize at the Innsbruck Youth Culture Week in 1963. His three operas are Singers Nähmaschine ist die beste (1966, of which there is a revised film version, 1973), Kunst kommt von Gönnen (1980) and Auszählreim (1986). His two cello concertos - the first composed in 1982, the second entitled Beethoven's Cello in 2005 - were written for and premiered by the Austrian cellist Heinrich Schiff. In 1994 he wrote the electronic score for Hans Hoffer's production of Odysseus, staged at the Linz Festival. His Masse! received its premiere at the Vienna Musikverein in 2002. Film scores include Exit (1980) and Strudlhofstiege (an adaption of the novel by Heimito von Doderer, 1988). As a pianist, Zykan began touring in 1968. He championed the work of Schoenberg and recorded the complete piano music in 1970. These landmark recordings were re-released in 2023 alongside new recordings of Zykan's own piano music, performed by Duncan Honeybourne. Zykan's partner was the Austrian musicologist and radio producer Irene Suchy. He died while cycling near his home in Sachsendorf, and is buried in the cemetery in Reinprechtspölla.

František Xaver Thuri (also known as F. X. Thuri) (29 April 1939 Prague - 22 April 2019) was a Czech composer, harpsichordist, oboist, organist, musicologist and a notable pedagogue.

George Rufus Adams (April 29, 1940 – November 14, 1992) was an American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. He is best known for his work with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Roy Haynes and in the quartet he co-led with pianist Don Pullen, featuring bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Dannie Richmond. He was also known for his idiosyncratic singing.

Leslie John Howard (born 29 April 1948) is an Australian pianist, musicologist and composer. He is best known for being the only pianist to have recorded the complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt, a project which included more than 300 premiere recordings. He has been described by The Guardian as "a master of a tradition of pianism in serious danger of dying out".

Masaaki Suzuki (鈴木 雅明, Suzuki Masaaki, born 29 April 1954) is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist, conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also an artist-in-residence at Yale University and the principal guest conductor of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world.

Kasper T. Toeplitz is a French composer and musician of Polish origin, born in 1960. He lives in Paris.

Robert Paterson (born April 29, 1970) is an American composer of contemporary classical music, as well as a conductor and percussionist. His catalog includes over 100 compositions. He has been called a "modern day master" and is primarily known for his colorful orchestral works, large body of chamber music and clear vocal writing in his operas, choral works, vocal chamber works and song cycles.