Though being best known as a poet, recently deceased Imants Ziedonis also wrote his fair share of prose. Ziedonis’ prose, with its flowery and imaginative language, was almost musical. With this in mind, a recording of Ziedonis’ ‘Zaļā pasaka’ (Green Fairytale) was made with narration and musical accompaniment, and was released by Latvian publisher Musica Baltica (MBR 006).

The story, a fable about the forest unexpectedly coming into Riga one night, driving out all the pollution and dust, is narrated by Latvian singer Lauris Reiniks. Many composers – including Selga Mence, Platons Buravickis, Anitra Tumševica, Evija Vecumniece, Ieva Klingenberga, Laura Gustovska, Juta Bērziņa, and Ēriks Ešenvalds – provide the musical interludes and backgrounds during the storytelling. The music is performed by the combined orchestras of the Jāzeps Mediņš 1st Rīga College of Music and the Pāvuls Jurjāns College of Music, conducted by Laura Staša and Valdis Butāns.

A version in Russian was also released, with narration by Jakovs Rafalsons.

The CD booklet also features the full text of the story in both English and Latvian.

For more information, please visit the Musica Baltica website.

For the past four years, Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds has been working on a multimedia symphony about the Aurora Borealis phenomenon, entitled ‘Ziemeļu gaisma’ (Nordic Lights).

For research purposes, Ešenvalds travelled to Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and Alaska, where he met with indigenous peoples, and filmed them talking about their beliefs and legends about the Northern Lights. During his travels, he met with 23 storytellers and, with the help of a professional film crew, recorded more than 40 different myths and songs.

Ešenvalds also spent time in Tromso University in Norway to study the Northern Lights, and there began a collaboration with Kjetil Skogli, an ‘Aurora chaser’. Skogli’s video clips are used as part of the performance of the work.

The world premiere of the work is April 27, 2015 at the Latvian National Opera. Performers include the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, the State Choir Latvija, and conductor Māris Sirmais.

Worldwide performances are planned starting in the autumn of 2015.

For more information on the performance, please see the video preview  (in English), as well as the composer’s website.

In honor of Latvia ascending to the Presidency of the Council of the EU, a six month rotation among European Union countries, and, for Latvia, beginning on January 1 2015 (taking over from Italy) and ending June 30 2015 (handing over to Luxembourg), the Bank of Latvia has released a special design 2 Euro coin.

The circulation coin, with a mintage of one million, was released on February 10. Collectors can purchase the coin for face value at Bank of Latvia outlets, and the coin is also included in new Euro coin sets, and both uncirculated and proof sets are available.

The coin was designed by Gunārs Lūsis (graphic design) and Jānis Strupulis (plaster model), and was minted by Staatliche Münzen Baden-Württemberg (Germany).

For further information about the new 2 Euro coin, please visit the Bank of Latvia website and for further information about Latvia’s presidency, please visit http://eu2015.lv