Monthly Archives: July 2016
US Economic Data – You Figure It Out
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th July 2016I’m going to present some data about the US economy. I’m going to let them speak for themselves, as much as possible. This is because almost everybody believes what they believe because they believe it, rather than as the result of sober analysis. So I’ll present the data along with a few questions about them….
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In Outer Space
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th July 2016The popular press has picked up on a story about cosmic rays and cardiovascular disease in astronauts who landed on the moon. The Voice of America has a particularly breathless account of a study, Apollo Lunar Astronauts Show Higher Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Possible Deep Space Radiation Effects on the Vascular Endothelium, published in the online…
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Keon Woo Kim Wins Top Prize at Operalia 2016
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th July 2016Korean tenor Keon Woo Kim shared the first place award at Operalia’s 2016 competition. Founded by Placido Domingo in 1993 to launch the careers of outstanding young singer, the event is still under the guidance of Domingo. The other first place award went to French soprano Elsa Dreisig. Born in 1985, Kim is a graduate of the…
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Santa Fe Chamber Music Season Opens
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 18th July 2016The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival opened its 2016 on Sunday July 17 with three works. First was the semi-obligatory nod to a living composer, in this instance the festival’s music director – Mark Neikrug. He played the piano accompanying clarinetist Todd Levy his Kaleidoscope for Clarinet & Piano. Neikrug wrote Kaleidoscope in 1980. Levy is the…
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Santa Fe Opera’s First Roméo et Juliette
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th July 2016The Santa Fe Opera presented its first ever performance of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette last night in a new production directed by Stephen Lawless. And it was a knockout, a home run, a hole in one. This opera depends almost entirely on its two title characters and they delivered. A sensitive conductor is also essential….
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La Fanciulla Del West in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th July 2016Puccini never wrote anything like the first act of La Fanciulla Del West. Its melodic weave which moves from orchestra to voice and back again owes a lot to Debussy, though its author is clearly Puccini. To an audience familiar with his previous four operas, this type of operatic writing was off putting and confusing which…
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Antonio Paoli
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th July 2016Antonio Paoli (1871-1946) was a Puerto Rican tenor; he was the first opera singer from the island to achieve international renown. The son of a Venezuelan mother and Corsican father, orphaned at 12, he moved to Spain with his sister where he began vocal studies. He continued these studies in Italy and made his formal…
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Recording of the Week: Leonard Warren 10 CD Set
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th July 2016Leonard Warren (1911-60) was the greatest baritone I ever heard. In the major Verdi parts no one else was close. He had everything. A voice of immense size, incomparable high notes, and a velvet control over his great instrument. He made his career at the Met, appearing at that great house 657 times between 1938 and…
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