Jeremy Irons
Born: 19 September 1948
Birthplace: Isle of Wight, England
Best Known As: Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune
Irons is known as a masterful and slightly unnerving dramatic actor. He won a 1991 Oscar as best actor for his uncanny portrayal of the creepy Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune, and also has played Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (1997, with Melanie Griffith and twisted twin doctors in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988). On the lighter side, Irons voiced the villainous Scar in Disney's 1994 animated hit The Lion King. He won a Tony Award in 1984 for The Real Thing.
|
Category: Earth Rat - Chia Tzu
Leave comment
here
Jean Michel Jarre
Synthesizer wizard Jean-Michel Jarre has - almost single-handedly - established French music on the international scene, staging a series of futuristic sound-and-light extravaganzas all over the world. Jarre, one of the most successful French artists of all time, has broken numerous records for concert attendance. His extraordinary mega-concerts in London, Hong Kong and Beijing attracted hundreds of thousands of fans - while his extraordinary show in Moscow in September 97 drew crowds of 3 million ! Jarre, who began his career experimenting with electro-acoustic sounds, put French synthesizer music on the map in 1976 with his best-selling album "Oxygène". Since then this "retro-futurist" (as Jarre once famously described himself) has gone on to become a truly international star.
Jean-Michel Jarre was born in Lyon on 24 August 1948. Young Jean-Michel grew up in a highly creative musical environment at home. His parents, Francette Pejot and Maurice Jarre, encouraged their son to learn music from an early age and many of Jean-Michel’s close relatives were professional musicians. His father, Maurice Jarre, was also a gifted composer who made a name for himself in the 1950’s writing the soundtrack for some of the most famous films of all time. (Maurice Jarre wrote the music for "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia", among many others). In 1953 Jean-Michel’s idyllic childhood was disrupted, however, by the sudden departure of his father, Maurice Jarre, who abandoned his family to begin a new life in America.
Meanwhile, back in Lyon, Jean-Michel seemed to be destined to follow in his father’s musical footsteps. Jean-Michel had been playing the piano since the age of 5 and the talented youngster would soon prove himself to be such a virtuoso that he gained a place at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris. After receiving an excellent classical training at the Conservatoire, Jean-Michel went on to discover a whole new world of music when the rock'n'roll craze hit France in the early 60’s. Enthused by this exciting new sound, the teenager began playing with a number of local rock groups then moved on to performing with jazz outfits.
But the turning-point of Jean-Michel’s career came in 1968 when he discovered electronic music. Passionate about this new genre, Jean-Michel left the Conservatoire in 1968 to enroll at the GRM (Groupement de Recherche Musicale), a research centre offering courses in contemporary and experimental music. Jean-Michel soon went on to specialise in electro-acoustic music and soon proved himself to be a brilliant composer and musician in this new genre.
After gaining valuable experience at the GRM Jean-Michel Jarre began to devote an increasing amount of time and energy to his composition work. By the early 70’s he had already established a certain reputation for himself on the French music scene following the 1971 release of "La Cage", an album containing his very first electro-acoustic compositions. Later that same year the Paris Opera House would commission Jean-Michel Jarre to write the music for the ballet "AOR". The sight of Paris’s most prestigious ballet company dancing to innovative electro-acoustic sounds was certainly a first at the Paris Opera House !
Meanwhile, Jean-Michel Jarre continued to experiment with his own electronic compositions in private, while making a name for himself in the French music world writing film music and composing material for several well-known singers.
|
Category: Earth Rat - Chia Tzu
Leave comment
here | |
he Sixty-Year Chinese Cycle directory:
