Walter Morales will be the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra's new music director. The community orchestra named Morales after a yearlong search that narrowed down the field to four candidates and involved feedback from players, audience and others. Morales is on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University, where he conducts the Contemporary Ensemble. He has also worked with Opera Theater, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and others.

REALLY REDUCED RING

British singer Anna Russell did it first, and now local mezzo-soprano Myrna Paris is condensing Richard Wagner's mammoth "Ring" cycle of four operas into just one night. Paris' "The Ring for Dummies" is billed as a "hilarious and delightfully fast-paced introduction" and is intended to set the table for a reduced version of the operatic cycle being produced by Opera Theater in July.

Her appearance is in collaboration with Pittsburgh CLO Late Night Cabaret. She speeds through the incestuous siblings, jealous gods and tomboy Valkyries at 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Cabaret at Theater Square, Downtown. $8-$10; 412-456-6666.

DISTINGUISHED BASSIST

Bassist Jeffrey Turner, an adjunct professor at Duquesne University, recently won the 2005 Distinguished Service Award. The Pennsylvania/Delaware String Teachers Association and the Pennsylvania School Orchestra Association cited Turner's "extraordinary support for the advancement of the quality of string performing and teaching through his own performing, teaching and leadership." Turner is the principal bassist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.