Efrem Kurtz |

Efrem Kurtz

Soviet music lovers met this artist only recently, although his name has been known to us for quite a long time from records and press reports. Meanwhile, Kurtz comes from Russia, he is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with N. Cherepnin, A. Glazunov and Y. Vitol. And later, living mainly in the USA, the conductor did not break his connection with Russian music, which is the foundation of his concert repertoire.

Kurz’s artistic career began in 1920, when he, at that time perfecting himself in Berlin, conducted the orchestra at Isadora Duncan’s recital. The young conductor attracted the attention of the leaders of the Berlin Philharmonic, who invited him to a permanent job. A few years later, Kurz was known in all the major cities of Germany, and in 1927 he became the conductor of the Stuttgart Orchestra and the music director of the Deutsche Radio. At the same time, his foreign tours began. In 1927, he accompanied the ballerina Anna Pavlova on her tour of Latin America, gave independent concerts in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, then participated in the Salzburg Festival, performed in the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Italy and others. countries. Kurtz gained a particularly strong reputation as a ballet conductor and for a number of years led the troupe of the Russian Ballet of Monte Carlo.

In 1939, Kurtz was forced to emigrate from Europe, first to Australia and then to the United States. In subsequent years, he was the conductor of a number of American orchestras – Kansas, Houston and others, for some time also led the orchestra in Liverpool. As before, Kurtz tours a lot. In 1959, he made his debut at the La Scala theater, staging Ivan Susanin there. “From the very first measures, it became clear,” wrote one of the Italian critics, “that a conductor stands behind the podium, who perfectly feels Russian music.” In 1965 and 1968 Kurtz gave several concerts in the USSR.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969