Saul Kurtz ‘11 entered Union as a Spanish major with the intention of studying abroad in Spain. Four short years later, he graduated as a music and economics interdepartmental major, a transition that would have many raising an eyebrow.
Kurtz started playing the piano at the young age of three, moved on to the saxophone in middle school and high school, and eventually ended up finding solace in guitar.
“My senior year of high school, I started learning guitar, which led me to start writing songs,” Kurtz said.
After discovering his passion for playing guitar and songwriting, he began performing on campus his sophomore year. While playing in Minervas and at a few local venues, he received a positive response from his peers. This led him to continue pursuing his affection for music.
“I had good feedback and thought, ‘I really love this and it feels right,’” said Kurtz.
His positive experiences with music through performance and coursework motivated Kurtz to pursue his ID major. While the two areas of study may not seem to immediately compliment one another, Kurtz says he added economics to his music degree more out of practicality than anything else. His background with economics led him to look for jobs in business and finance, but he says his interest in these fields was never truly serious.
“I did the career fair thing and looked into business and finance kinds of jobs, but I knew my heart wasn’t in it,” he commented. Music had already become his passion.
Kurtz spent the rest of his time at Union planning for the future given his limited exposure to a serious music scene in the Schenectady area. However, just at the end of last year he received some exciting and potentially life changing news: he was going to perform at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT on Jan. 21.
“A friend from high school had a friend who submitted music [to the festival],” he explained. “I had to pay to submit, pay my own way there, and would have to wait to find out, but I thought, ‘this seems like a great opportunity for me and is worth it.’”
After applying in mid-November, he found out a month later that he would be playing at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, a luxury five-star hotel in Park City. In the hotel there was a Hideaway Lounge set up for guests of the hotel to sit down, enjoy some food and live music as they rested between film screenings.
Kurtz played a 35-minute set that consisted of acoustic versions off his most recent album, Precious Time (available on iTunes), as well as covers of famous hip-hop and rap songs that his audience would be able to recognize.
Kurtz remembers fondly how “a pro-football player who was there recognized one of the songs I was playing and asked one of the organizers about it.” Adding to the exciting nature of the experience, Kurtz was interviewed afterwards and asked if his album could be played on a local radio station.
“I gave out a lot of albums and free music cards and had a really great response from the audience,” he remarked.
Not leaving empty handed, Kurtz said he left with many new business cards to add to his Rolodex, although he is not currently working with any of his new contacts.
So, after floating on Cloud Nine for a few months where is this Dutchman alum headed next? Brooklyn. Just a short week and a half ago, Kurtz moved into an apartment equipped with a recording studio.
“There’s a lot of artsy and musical people who live there,” he said. “It’s a really creative place and I feel really inspired to write music.” He also commented that the layout of the apartment, with its many common rooms reminded him of the familiar Minervas where he once performed.
While his exact plans for the future may still be up in the air, he’s seeing where his talents will take him. Kurtz has recently been in contact with Warner Music Group and has spoken with a CEO at Atlantic Records, which was the inspiration behind his newest single, “Mr. Executive.”
Kurtz’s experience at Sundance was clearly an enlightening one where he was exposed to many different artists. Hes remarked that attending a live music performance in a low-key location made him realize that he wasn’t the only one working to get his name out there.
“For the first time I was interacting with people who were making this their life,” he said. “They weren’t superstars.”
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