Real name: Eugene Allen Kurtz

Eugene Kurtz (1923–2006) was an American composer and music educator who lived in France since 1952. Kurtz received MMus degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1949, after studying with Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud. He served as a guest professor of composition at The University Of Michigan, his alma mater, and several other universities. One of his best-known works is The Last Contrabass in Las Vegas (1974) for double bass and female narrator, composed for Bertram Turetzky and his wife Nancy Turetzky.