Author Archives: Neil Kurtzman
New Insight Into the Cause of Lupus
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2026Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks healthy tissues and organs, causing widespread inflammation affecting skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain, with symptoms like fatigue, fever, rashes (especially a butterfly-shaped facial rash), joint pain, and mouth sores that vary in severity and occur in flares and remissions,…
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A New Yeast Infection
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th January 2026As if the strike zone were not big enough, nature keeps throwing spitballs at us. One such pitch is a relatively new fungal infection, Candida auris. The pathogen was first identified in a Japanese patient in 2009. Unlike most Candida species, C. auris is often resistant to many antifungal drugs. It can persist on surfaces…
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Sleeping Under the Bridge
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd January 2026The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread.Anatole France Anatole France’s observation was made to underscore the government’s indifference to the plight of the poor. It appeared in his novel Le Lys Rouge (The…
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Jonas Kaufmann Will No Longer Sing in London or New York
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th December 2025Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann recently announced that he would no longer appear at Covent Garden in London and at the Met in New York. It’s been more than seven years since he last appeared at the Met, and that was after a four year absence. Kaufmann expressed dissatisfaction with how the Met treated its chorus…
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Ombra Mai Fu
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th December 2025“Ombra mai fu”, also known as “Largo from Xerxes” or “Handel’s Largo”, is the opening aria from the opera Serse (1738) by George Frideric Handel. Serse is an opera seria in three acts. It was first performed at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket on 15 April 1738. It was a complete failure lasting for only five…
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The Marbled Mind
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd December 2025Divergent analyses of the same information by people of equal insight, intelligence, and goodwill are a constant feature of human interactions. Politics is a prime example of this phenomenon, but they’re so contentious that either side of a political divide is likely to vigorously declare the other a prisoner of error rather than admit the…
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Beethoven’s Birthday
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th December 2025The epochal composer was born today or perhaps yesterday in 1770. He was baptized on Dec 17 and by inference born the previous day. Regardless, his appearance during the brief span allotted to him by nature or nature’s god (56 years) changed the world for the better like few other humans since our species emerged…
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Andrea Chénier in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th December 2025The Met added Giordano’s Andrea Chénier to its HD series today. The opera, the composer’s only hit, is a rousing four act distillation of the French Revolution. It has three demanding parts for tenor, soprano, and baritone. While the opera is considered a prime example of the verismo school of Italian opera, it requires singers…
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Program Notes for Falla, Márquez, and Lalo
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th December 2025The program notes I wrote for the upcoming Lubbock Symphony Orchestra concert (January 24, 2026) are below. Tickets can be purchased here. The Three-Cornered Hat Serge Diaghilev (1872–1929) was a Russian art critic, patron, and impresario who founded the Ballets Russes company in 1909. Over the next 20 years he commissioned some of the leading composers of his…
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The Disappearing Verdi Operas at the Met
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd December 2025This season the Met staged only one Verdi opera, La Traviata. Next season it appears there will only be two: A new production of Macbeth, which will open the season, and a revival of Aida. My subject is why the Met is steering away from the work of opera’s greatest and most performed composer. I…
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