Word: efrem
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...familiar sweet notes of Brahms and the too-familiar sour notes of an empty cash register. Conductor Karl Krueger had signed up with the Detroit Symphony. Sponsors debated whether to try out a new conductor or cancel the next concert season. In the end, they hired lanky Efrem Kurtz. Since that time, three years ago, they haven't had a moment's regret...
Kurtz found only 700 subscribers on the books for a ten-concert season. Today 46-year-old Efrem Kurtz runs one of the most financially successful symphonies in the U.S. His orchestra earns 85% of its annual $198,000 budget at the box office and by radio contracts (most major orchestras are lucky to bring in 70% of their keep). The orchestra plays more than 70 concerts a year, many of which are broadcast...
...Efrem Kurtz was born in Russia, but after Pullman-jumping back & forth across the U.S. for nine years, as musical director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, he is accustomed to U.S. audiences. He believes in educating his listeners gradually. Says he: ''I exposed them, step by step, to better music than Strauss waltzes and Tchaikovsky. So we have gone from Victor Herbert to Aaron Copland, from Rachmaninoff to Shostakovich." He is one of the most relaxed conductors in the business, but believes that the waving of his long spidery arms helps both the orchestra and audience...
...Symphony (Sun. 5 p.m., NBC). Premiere of Elie Siegmeister's Sunday in Brooklyn, Efrem Kurtz conducting...
...Symphony (Sun. 5 p.m., NBC). All-Russian program, featuring Shostakovich's First Symphony, Efrem Kurtz conducting...