Category Archives: Uncategorized
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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La Bohème in HD 2025
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th November 2025Two important announcements immediately followed today’s telecast of Puccini’s glorification of the quotidian. The first was that this show surpassed Graham’s number in frequency of performance. The second, and equally significant, is that from next season forward every show at the Met will be a staging of La Bohème – Puccini’s, not Leoncavallo’s. Casts may…
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Chagas Disease
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th October 2025Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis) is a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted primarily by triatomine insects (commonly called “kissing bugs”). It is endemic in Latin America, but cases are increasingly seen in non-endemic regions (such as the U.S. and Europe) due to migration and blood transfusion transmission. Because of…
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Neil Shicoff
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th October 2025Neil Shicoff (b 1949) is an American tenor who has attained great success both in America and Europe. A native of Brooklyn, he is the son of the cantor Sidney Shicoff. The younger Shicoff trained as a cantor as well as studying singing at Juilliard. He made his operatic debut in the title role in…
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La Sonnambula at the Met – Very Brief Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th October 2025‘The Met’s new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula was broadcast over the company’s Sirius channel last night. It featured Nadine Sierra in the title role. Spanish tenor Xabier Anduaga was Elvino. Sierra has all the vocal bells and whistles necessary to realize Belini’s sleepwalking canary. She is the reason for this production. Anduaga, on the…
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Joint Concert by Israel Philharmonic and Munich Philharmonic
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th May 2025Last week on May 8, the Israel Philharmonic and Munich Philharmonic performed a concert on the 80th anniversary of “Liberation Day.” In 1945, the day marked the unconditional surrender of Germany and the official end of World War II in Europe. Israel Philharmonic Music Director Lahav Shani led the performance of works by Tzvi Avni…
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Le Nozze di Figaro in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th April 2025Mozart’s comic opera based on the second of Beaumarchais’s Figaro trilogy is one of opera’s most popular works and is often placed at or near the top of the list of the genre’s best works. The 29 year old composer wrote the opera for Vienna to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Da Ponte managed…
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Gottfried Benn and the Philosophy of Mind
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd February 2025Gunter Wolf is a German physician who has long been interested in the interaction of medicine and the humanities. His latest publication is about the author and physician Gottfried Benn (1886-1956). He is not nearly as well known to English-speaking audiences as he is in Germany. Wolf’s essay, which can be downloaded below, is intended…
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Met Announces 25-26 Season
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th February 2025The Met has announced the repertory for next season. It can be viewed in the PDF below or on the Met’s website. A few observations about the upcoming season: While there is only one opera by Verdi and one by Wagner there will be two by Bellini. Both La Sonnambula and I Puritani will be…
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Respighi and Verdi
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th December 2024Below are the program notes I wrote for the upcoming concert of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra – Saturday, January 18, 2025. Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was the only important Italian composer of his era better known for his instrumental works than for his operas. Though he wrote nine operas, they are almost never performed. His orchestral compositions, on the…
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