From a very young age (3 or 4 years), My older Sister and I used to attend brass band rehearsals where my Dad was euphonium player, so I guess cornet playing is "in my blood". (my sister went on to study music and has been MD of the band !!)
http://www.cityofwaterfordbrass.org
The conductor of the band at the time was a real music fan, he had hundreds of LP's (remember them?) of every orchestra playing all the repertoire for any composer who ever lived (well, it seemed like that). I remember being at his house once listening to Holzt The Planets, and I said something like, that tempo is a bit slow isn't it, he replied, I don't think so, Holzt is conducting :) Anyway, he used to make odd compilation tapes of various kinds of music for my dad to play in the car, and one of those included Maurice Andre playing the Handel Concerto in D minor for Trumpet and Organ. It sent chills down my spine as an 8 year old, and it still does now how ever many years later. I bought the dots to it recently but can get nowhere near it.. maybe I should put some time into it!! :)
From a cornet playing point of view, Jim Shepherd came to our region in Ireland years ago as guest soloist and tutor to a regional band (i.e made up of several bands from the region). I think I was about 10 or 11 at the time. He played the old classic Hailstorm which was amazing as I'd never heard triple tounging like that before.
There are far to many influences now to list, but those two from the early years stick in my mind. Originally, I just wanted to play in the band with my Dad (who used to, and still does teach the beginners), since then I've gone on to play in a multitude of situations,brass bands, orchestras, theatre orchestras, big bands, as soloist etc.. which I owe to him really!