Monthly Archives: January 2017
Claudia Muzio
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th January 2017Claudia Muzio (1889-1936) was one of opera’s greatest stars during the first part of the 20th century. Born in Pavia, she was the daughter of an operatic stage manager. He moved the family to London when Claudia was 2 years old to practice his craft at Covent Garden. Accordingly, she became fluent in English as…
› Read the full entry
Salt Intake in Chronic Kidney Diease
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th January 2017How much salt people should eat continues to be a murky issue. A paper in the February 2017 issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases examines the issue of salt (actually sodium) intake on the prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) stages 2-4. It is a commentary on an…
› Read the full entry
Roméo et Juliette in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 21st January 2017The Met was taking no chances with the role of Juliette in this telecast of Gounod’s opera as its host was Ailyn Perez who probably is the best Juliette in the world. If needed she could have stepped into the title female role in no more time than it takes to get into a costume….
› Read the full entry
Il Mio Tesoro
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th January 2017Don Ottavio,the tenor in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is opera’s biggest nebish. After being alone in a bedroom with Giovanni, a life with Ottavio seem worse to Donna Anna than 100 flights on American Eagle. I think after more than two centuries Ottavio’s still waiting for her to agree to marry him. But he has two…
› Read the full entry
Thoughts on The Affordable Care Act
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th January 2017As everybody above ambient temperature knows, the US Congress is about to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The repeal part is easy. What to replace it with is much harder. As someone who’s spent more than half a century taking care of patients and teaching others how to do the same, I’d like…
› Read the full entry
Nabucco in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th January 2017In a geriatric special, the Met televised its 2001 production of Verdi’s Nabucco featuring septuagenarians Placido Domingo and James Levine. The former in the title role and the latter behind the baton. This pairing of ancients would suggest that everyone should be eligible for a senior ticket. But everyone in my theater was already eligible….
› Read the full entry
Vittoria! Vittoria!!
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd January 2017The tenor’s big moment in the second act of Puccini’s Tosca when is he gets to sing “Victory” twice. He’s just discovered that his favorite military dictator (Napoleon) has won the Battle of Marengo instead of the reverse which was the initial news of the affair to reach Rome. He’s been brought onstage after a torture…
› Read the full entry
