Author: Egils Kaljo

Garanča’s career highlights compiled on one CD

Egils Kaljo | 

Record label Deutsche Grammophon has released a collection featuring the greatest recordings by famed Latvian mezzo soprano, Elīna Garanča.

Entitled simply The Best of Elīna Garanča (DG 479 2241), the CD collects recordings from Garanča’s many previous Grammophon releases.

Garanča, who the International Record Review called ‘one of the plushest, most evenly produced and alluring mezzo-sopranos of our time’, has become one of the best known mezzo sopranos in the world in the decade since her first performance at the Salzburg Festival, and has had four solo albums on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The role of Carmen has become one of her signature roles.

The CD booklet features an interview with Garanča, and is in English, French, and German.

For further information, please visit http://www.elinagaranca.com or http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4792241

Track listing:

1. Bizet: Séguedille et Duo: “Près des remparts de Séville”

2. Bizet: Chanson: “Les tringles des sistres tintaient”

3. Bizet: “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Havanaise)

4. Delibes: Viens, Mallika, … Dôme épais (Flower Duet)

5. Saint‐Saëns: “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix”

6. Offenbach: Barcarolle

7. Villa‐Lobos: Aria (Cantilena)

8. Chapi Y Lorente: Carceleras

9. Falla: 5. Nana

10. Mozart: “Parto, ma tu ben mio”

11. Donizetti: Oh! Mon Fernand

12. Bellini: Dopo l’oscuro nembo

13. Bellini: Lieto del dolce incarno ‐ La tremenda ultirce spada

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Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

Final 1 Lats “parity” coin minted

Egils Kaljo | 

As Latvia’s transition to the Euro approaches, the final circulation 1 Lats coin has been minted, and the theme is ‘parity’. The reverse indicates that the coin has a value of 1 Lat, or, by the official exchange rate, 1.42 Euro.

The artists for the coin are Ilmārs Blumbergs (graphic design) and Jānis Strupulis (plaster model). The coin has a mintage of 500,000, and was minted at Münze Österreich (Austria).

Overall, there have been 24 different 1 Lats coins minted, the standard 1 Lats coin featuring a salmon (first minted in 1992), and 23 ‘special’ Lats, featuring varied designs – including storks, ants, mushrooms, toads, and many other images from Latvian folklore.

Bank of Latvia website: http://www.bank.lv

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Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

New CD a showcase of music from southern Kurzeme

Egils Kaljo | 

The new folk music CD, Sventava, features Māris Muktupāvels, kokle player and member of the post-folk ensemble Iļgi, along with many friends, performing songs from the Kurzeme region of Latvia. The album, released by MGM Projekti (MGM 001), brings together a wide variety of Latvian musicians to perform these songs.

According to the liner notes, many of these songs are sung by Latvians in the village of Sventāja, which is actually in Lithuania (between Liepāja in Latvia and Klaipėda in Lithuania). The songs were compiled during a folklore ‘expedition’ to the village by Ilmārs Mežs in the 1980s, and these are new arrangements by Muktupāvels.

Joining Muktupāvels are other Iļģi members like Gatis Gaujenieks, Ilga Reizniece, Egons Kronbergs, as well as other well-known musicians such as Ainars Mielavs, Uģis Prauliņš, and Valdis Muktupāvels.

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Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.