Eugene Kurtz

Eugene Allen Kurtz (b. Atlanta, Georgia, December 27, 1923; d. Paris, July 7, 2006) was an American composer of contemporary classical music.

He received an M.A. in music from the Eastman School of Music in 1949. His instructors included Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Max Deutsch. He served as a guest professor of composition at the University of Michigan, the Eastman School of Music, and several other universities. His notable students include Robert Morris.

His best known composition is "The Last Contrabass in Las Vegas" (1974), for double bass and female narrator, which was composed for Bertram Turetzky and his wife Nancy Turetzky, whom have performed it frequently. He has also been commissioned by Radio France.

Kurtz arrived in France in 1944, serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He settled in Paris, France in 1952, living there until his death there on July 7, 2006, of a lung infection. [http://www.swissinfo.org/fre/culture/agences/detail/Mort_a_Paris_du_compositeur_americain_Eugene_Kurtz.html?siteSect=203&sid=6877202&cKey=1152265876000] [http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V69N4/cn-inmem.html]

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=5O5mD9oGtuIC&pg=PA363&lpg=PA363&dq=&source=web&ots=7uoy29Wq5C&sig=fT8vSwn9gNf1gaeWpE2G3Cj4xG8#PPA363,M1 Eugene Kurtz entry] from "International Who's Who in Music"
* [http://www.williamepowell.com/kurtz.html Eugene Kurtz biography]
* [http://www.swissinfo.org/fre/culture/agences/detail/Mort_a_Paris_du_compositeur_americain_Eugene_Kurtz.html?siteSect=203&sid=6877202&cKey=1152265876000 Obituary] (French)
* [http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V69N4/cn-inmem.html Eugene Kurtz remembrance]

Listening

* [http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=33527 Audio sample of "The Last Contrabass in Las Vegas"]