Author Archives: Neil Kurtzman
Why Really Smart People Can Be Really Stupid
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th September 2025Before I start, I must assure the reader that I will give no contemporary example that supports the premise of the title. To do so would alienate at least half my readers, who would in outrage, proclaim that I was the best proof of the title, or even worse, that I fit only the second…
› Read the full entry
The Catalog Aria From Don Giovanni
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th August 2025Don Giovanni needs no further praise from anyone; it is one of opera’s supreme masterpieces. It has been the subject of more interpretations than sin. Leporello, the Don’s put upon servant, is as interesting a character as is the Don. His Act 1 ‘Catalog Aria’ (Madamina, il catalogo è questo) is as famous as anything…
› Read the full entry
Great American Composers – Aaron Copland
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd August 2025Aaron Copland (1900–1990) was born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children in a Jewish immigrant family. His first musical experiences came from his older sister Laurine, who gave him basic piano lessons. By age fifteen, he had decided to pursue music seriously. He immersed himself in opera scores…
› Read the full entry
Lubbock Chamber Orchestra – Ladder to the Moon
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th August 2025The LCO will present the three works described below at its inaugural concert of the season, scheduled for September 19, 2025, at the Crickets Theater. For tickets go here. Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings – 1st MovementPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was the first Russian composer to achieve fame outside his native land. Despite the success of many…
› Read the full entry
Mario Chamlee
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th August 2025Every major opera company needs singers who, though they lack star power, can perform leading roles wth competence on a regular basis. They might not sell tickets, but when they’re on the bill with big attractions, they hold the show together and do so creditably and with some distinction. Mario Chamlee (1892-1966) was such a…
› Read the full entry
Can Politics be Rational?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th August 2025How can I, that girl standing there,My attention fixOn Roman or on RussianOr on Spanish politics,Yet here’s a travelled man that knowsWhat he talks about,And there’s a politicianThat has both read and thought,And maybe what they say is trueOf war and war’s alarms,But O that I were young againAnd held her in my arms. WB…
› Read the full entry
Mikhail Alexandrovich
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd August 2025Latvian tenor Mikhail Alexandrovich (1914-2002) was another 20th century cantor who sang more than liturgical music. Some of the others were Yossele Rosenblatt, Joseph Schmidt, and Richard Tucker. Born in Bērzpils, Vitebsk to a very poor family, his extraordinary vocal gifts were recognized when he was six years old. In 1920 he was enrolled in…
› Read the full entry
O Paradis! from L’Africaine
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th July 2025L’Africaine was Giacomo Meyerbeer’s last opera. He started work on the project in 1852. Other activities, the unavailability of singers, and the death of his libretist Eugène Scribe delayed the completion of the opera. The full score was copied the day before Meyerbeer died in 1864. But a performing version done by the composer would…
› Read the full entry
Mammography in Elderly Women
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th July 2025I’ve written several articles about the difficulties inherent in screening for diseases that are common and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The two most prominent are breast cancer and prostate cancer. Both have screening tests that are widely used, but the public and many physicians seem to be unaware of their limitations. Overdiagnosis is…
› Read the full entry
Heart Disease Mortality Declines
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th July 2025Heart Disease Mortality in the United States, 1970 to 2022 is a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “From 1970 to 2022, overall age‐adjusted heart disease mortality decreased by 66% from 1970 to 2022 (from 761 to 258 per 100 000). In 1970, 91% of all heart disease deaths were ischemic, declining…
› Read the full entry
