(Anecdotes of a Concert Monarch)

The John McCormack Society is delighted to welcome Keith Kurtzer of New York who will deliver a talk on the Irish tenor using the unique collection of material assembled by fellow American, Jack Keveny.

Max de Schauensee called John McCormack the Caruso of the concert stage and in his refulgent prime John Count McCormack was billed as the Monarch of the concert stage. I have known Jack Keveny for over 40 years, and because of him, came to know the major collectors and board members of the New York John McCormack Society. My program presents a synoptic account of John McCormack the man, the singer, the educator, and minister of beauty and encouragement, via primary source audio documents, pictures, and vintage ephemera – most of which have been unavailable or unpublished since their inception of a century or more ago. My aim is the preservation and restoration of these materials in order to propagate interest in this man for the ages.

Keith Kurtzer

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Keith Kurtzer is a retired high school English teacher, for whom John McCormack has been a life-long influence and passion.  He recently retired after a career of 37 years as a teacher, mentor, and curriculum developer.  He is a native New Yorker, but for the past 36 years has called New Jersey home.  Keith is a long-time board member of the New York Vocal Record Collectors Society (VRCS), a sister organization of London’s Record Collector.  Like the Record Collector, the VRCS issues an annual CD of rarities replete with a comprehensive booklet of details and artist biographies.  In February of 2019, he presented John McCormack in the twenty-first Century, a personal retrospective on the influence of the immortal tenor, for the VRCS.  In addition to collecting and restoring an array of vocal recordings and operas, Keith is a baritone, with a penchant for vocal technique, and has studied with Gino Bechi, Jerome Hines, Gina Cigna, and Harry Dworchak, his signature role being Tevye in Jerry Bock’s Fiddler on the Roof.  Keith and his wife Karen live in New Jersey with TJ, their seventeen-year-old cat.  They enjoy summers at the beach, pickleball, long walks, and being grandparents to Summer Grace, their first grandchild.

The talk will take place at 11am on Saturday 9 September 2023 in Buswells Hotel, Dublin. There will be plenty of terrific insights into the life of McCormack, and of course, a selection of wonderful recordings.

You can view and download the programme selection below.

Join us on the 15th of April at 11am in Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.

Join us for what should be an entertaining and enjoyable talk on the making of ‘The People’s Tenor’, and what inspired it, and hear a selection of favourite recordings chosen by the director.