1746 William Billings – American composer (d.1800); wrote hymns, anthems and ‘fuguing tunes’; widely regarded as the father of American choral music; created what is now recognized as a uniquely American style.
1955 Yo-Yo Ma – American cellist (69 years old); to say he possesses a "more eclectic repertoire than is typical for classical musicians" is to put it mildly; he's omnivorous in his musical interests and omnipresent in the media: from a performance at a Presidential inauguration to appearances on The Simpsons, The West Wing, Sesame Street, and NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me; a great ambassador of music.
1976 Pekka Kuusisto – Finnish classical and jazz violinist (48 years old); the first Finn to win the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition.
1978 Alison Balsom – English trumpeter (46 years old); in collaboration with playwright Samuel Adamson she devised Gabriel, a play using the music of The Fairy-Queen and other pieces by Henry Purcell, which she performed with actors and The English Concert as part of the 2013 summer season at Shakespeare's Globe.
1982 Yundi (Li) – Chinese pianist (42 years old); youngest pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 2000, at the age of 18.
2000 premiere of Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking, at the San Francisco Opera, Patrick Summers conducting.