David Stabler wrote yesterday about the passing Thursday of former OSO cellist Naomi Blumberg, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.  She will be missed, as a warm and hospitable person, a caring and gifted teacher, and a fine cellist of long standing.  My condolences and best wishes go out to Naomi’s family and friends.

Many of you may be unaware that Oregon Symphony violinist Elena Hirsu’s father Valentin is a cellist with the New York Phiharmonic. He is profiled in today’s New York Times while the orchestra is visiting North Korea. He was asking for information from North Korean musicians as to the whereabouts of several orphaned North Korean refugee musicians whom he knew from music school in Bucharest, Romania, over 50 years ago, and who were later returned back to North Korea after the Korean War. [Read more →]