American composer Samuel Barber was BOTD in 1910. Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania into an artistic middle-class family, he showed an early aptitude for music, writing his first compositions aged seven. He was mentored by his uncle, the composer Sidney Homer, who became a major influence on his musical career. He entered the youth artist programme at the Curtis Institute of Music at 14, studying composition, voice and piano. In 1934, he met fellow student Gian Carlo Menotti, who became his life partner. He quickly became one of America’s most renowned composers, best known for his Adagio for Strings, written in 1938 when he was just 28. Unusually for his generation, his work rejected modernist influences in favour of traditional harmonic language, lyricism and intense emotionality. Other notable works included the ballet suite Medea, his 1949 Piano Sonata, the opera Vanessa, his 1962 Piano Concerto and a number of vocal works for the soprano Leontyne Price. Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, he withdrew from public life after the failure of his 1966 opera Antony and Cleopatra, struggling with depression and alcoholism. He continued writing until his death in 1981, aged 70. The Adagio for Strings remains one of the most popular pieces of 20th century orchestral music, used to powerful effect in David Lynch‘s film The Elephant Man and Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War epic Platoon.