By Jim Dean
At the June 5th meeting of the Retired Men’s Association George Ubogy and Cynthia Mackay, both retired physicians and accomplished musicians, teamed up to present a program of works by Franz Schubert, with Cynthia performing Schubert lieder accompanied by George on the piano. As each piece was introduced the pair provided the history and interpretation of the piece. One stirring piece was “Death and the Maiden,” a short poem of a dying woman whose fear of death gave way to acceptance and kindness. They also performed a song inspired by Goethe’s play, Faust, “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel,” “The Trout,” “Night and Dreams,” “To Be Sung on the Water,” and ended the set with a beautiful rendition of “Ave Maria.” Encores included several folk and popular songs, including the Irish songs “Wild Rover” and “Wild Mountain Thyme,” the spiritual “Every Time I Feel the Spirit,” and a rousing rendition of “The City of New Orleans.”
Dr. George Ubogy is a retired internist and was for many years Medical Director of the Addiction Recovery Center at Greenwich Hospital. He attended the Juilliard Preparatory Division in his youth, and was introduced to the Schubert lieder by Dr. Mackay. Dr. Cynthia Mackay, a retired ophthalmologist, has sung all her life, including with a Harvard madrigal group, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Recently she co-authored the book The Unsightly Truth of Laser Vision Correction: LASIK Surgery Makes Healthy Eyes Sick, was executive producer of the movie Broken Eyes, and authored a memoir, Making the Cut.
Unfortunately, no recording of the performance is available.
The RMA’s upcoming presentation, “Prospects for the Economy and Inflation, and What It Means for the Fed and Financial Markets,” by Larry Kantor, is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. The Covid business cycle has continued to produce surprises. After the Fed hiked interest rates by more than it had in over 40 years, the US economy surprisingly accelerated in the second half of last year. A pickup in growth is usually associated with higher inflation, but instead inflation fell sharply. The Fed stopped raising rates in July, but refrained from cutting them because the economy was too hot. These patterns in the US economy have reversed so far this year. The economy has slowed from the torrid pace of last summer and fall, but inflation has picked up to a pace above the Fed’s target. Once again, the Fed is stuck, but this time it’s because inflation is too high. The Fed is unlikely to raise rates any further, but will likely stand pat over the next several months. Inflation and interest rates were unusually low after the financial crisis, but we are now in a more normal environment.
Please join us to hear Larry Kantor, who will draw on his many years as a senior leader in the financial industry to tackle the critical economic issues of the day. Larry has appeared on eight previous occasions before the RMA and has received widespread praise for his clear, concise, and comprehensible views on national issues from an economist’s perspective. Larry is currently an operating partner at Atlas Merchant Capital, a private equity firm. He was a 2016 advanced Leadership Institute fellow at Harvard University following his retirement as managing director and global head of research at Barclays, where he was responsible for global research, including economics, equities, interest rates, foreign exchange, emerging markets, credit, and commodities. He was also a member of the investment bank executive committee and made numerous media appearances, including CNBC, Bloomberg TV and radio, and The Nightly Business Report. Prior to working at Barclays, Larry held several positions of increasing responsibility in academia, at the Federal Reserve Board and in the financial industry. Larry received his PhD and MA in Economics from Ohio State University.
To stream the presentation by Larry Kantor at 11 AM on Wednesday, June 19, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
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