Famed Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča has released her latest album entitled Meditation (Deutsche Grammophon, DG 479 2071). Featuring works of a more spiritual and meditative nature, Garanča is joined by Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken and the Latvian Radio Choir, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon.

The collection also features works by Latvian composers – a new arrangement of Uģis Prauliņš’ ‘Dievaines’, and Pēteris Vasks’ ‘Dusi dusi’ and ‘Paldies tev vēlā saule’.

Garanča will perform works from this album on tour in Europe in October 2014, and returns to Carmen at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2015.

For more information, please visit Elīna Garanča’s website and her biography on the Deutsche Grammophon site.

See the music video for ‘Dievaines’ here.

 

Canadian-Latvian author Ilze Bērziņš, author of Happy Girl,  A True Love Story and a number of murder mysteries, is about to release her new book, Silver Shoes. The book is Bērziņš’  first “medical mystery” and narrates how she hopes to overcome a common ailment in our aging bodies. According to Bērziņš, “I’ve tried for humour, laced with suspense”.

The book’s back cover blurb reads: “Plagued by joint pain and disdainful of an orthopedist’s insistence that she needs surgery, the author has put herself on a tedious healing regime, including unpronounceable supplements, foul-tasting herb tea, and regular pool exercises. In the process, she finds herself in the middle of a muddle involving a pod of whales, a pair of treacherous Russians, a hit-and-run, and a hostile, hapless woman who eventually becomes her friend.

Threats are made, but will shots be fired? It all depends on Ilze’s investigative powers and her husband George’s ability to think on his feet. Is this a true crime story or the fantasy of the author’s fertile mind? You decide!”

Published by Albert Street Press the book is available from the author’s website and Amazon.

August 23, 1989, saw one of the most memorable and inspiring events in recent Baltic history. Approximately two million residents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined hands to form a human chain, called Baltijas ceļš (The Baltic Way), linking the capitals of the three Baltic States – Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius, in a powerful display of unity to protest the then-Soviet occupation. The date was chosen to mark the 50th anniversary of the fateful Molotov-Ribentropp pact, signed August 23, 1939, which divided up Eastern Europe into Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia spheres of influence.

In August of 2014, the Bank of Latvia has released a silver commemorative coin to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this history making event.

The proof quality silver coin was struck by Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt (the Netherlands), and was designed by Visvaldis Asaris (graphic design) and Ligita Franckeviča (plaster model), has a face value of 5 euro, and has a mintage of 10,000.

For further information, please visit the Bank of Latvia website.