The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra is a Norwegian orchestra with a history dating back to 1938, and a discography of about 40 recordings.  They moved into a new concert hall in 2012, and formed their own record label in 2016.

Their latest release is of the Brahms Symphony no. 2, with Thomas Zehetmair conducting.  Of interest to me is that fact that in addition to CD, the recording has been released on vinyl. 

You can learn more about the orchestra here.

The Rap Opera Project is an initiative of San Jose based Opera Cultura, is an effort to get youth involved in telling their stories about what it's like to grow up in San Jose (and by extension, many places in America).  The project will culminate on June 24th with a presentation of the end result.

There's an article about the project in San Francisco Classical Voice, which you can read here.

The Toledo Symphony has announced the hiring of a new conductor--Canadian composer/conductor Alain Trudel.

A local report can be found here.

(NOTE: While we have no way of verifying this, it seems likely to be accurate, and worth mentioning.)

George Neikrug has been a renowned cellist and teacher  for 60 years, appearing as a soloist with many of the world's greatest conductors including Stokowski, Bernstein, Menuhin and others.  He has also taught at Boston University, and has been highly regarded as a teacher.

Neikrug is 98 years old now, and reportedly suffered two compression fractures in his back about a year ago.  He has been bedridden most of the time since, but is just now beginning to walk again with the help of aides.  But the Neikrugs are now out of money, and are seeking assistance to continue to pay the aides, not to mention medications and the like.

A gofundme page has been set up to benefit the Neikrugs.  You can find it here.

I think everyone is aware of the horrible events at a recent Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, and her follow up "One Love" concert to raise money for the British Red Cross Manchester Emergency Fund.  What isn't being reported is a concert at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall last week.  Three orchestras call the venue home--the BBC Philharmonic, the Halle Orchestra, and the Manchester Camerata.  They teamed up last Thursday evening for a fundraiser for victims and relief organizations.

Norman Lebrecht is reporting on his Slipped Disc website that they raised 100,000 GBP.

Kudos to these organizations for stepping forward to help.

English conductor Jeffrey Tate passed away today during rehearsal.  Not much more is know at this time, though the Bergamo newpaper is reporting on it (I am not sufficiently proficient in Italian to read it).

You may view that story here.