Latvian-born violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra are scheduled to tour the United States during November, the concert tour’s management has announced. Kremer and the orchestra are to perform nine concerts featuring the works of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and others.

Kremerata Baltica is a Grammy Award-winning chamber orchestra created in 1997 by Kremer. It consists of young musicians from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Concerts are scheduled at 8 p.m. Nov. 4 in the Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego, Calif.; at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, Calif.; at 8 p.m. Nov. 6 in the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Calif.; at 8 p.m. Nov. 9 in Jones Hall in Houston, Texas; at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Hill Auditorium at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; at 8 p.m. Nov. 13 in Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Ill.; at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb.; at 8 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Hancher Auditorium at University of Iowa in Iowa City, and at 8 p.m. Nov. 20 in Carnegie Hall in New York.

The tour is organized by International Creative Management Inc., which has offices in California, New York and the United Kingdom.

The Three Latvian Tenors (Trīs Latvijas tenori) have announced they will tour the United States from mid-August to mid-September, performing concerts in at least 16 cities. The singers—Latvian National Opera tenors Miervaldis Jenčs, Nauris Puntulis and Guntars Runģis—will be joined on the tour by composer Juris Kulakovs.

Titled “Mīlas lidojumā pie draugiem,” the concert tour will be the tenors’ second time touring the country.

The first half of each concert, according to the artists, will feature material mostly from contemporary Latvian composers such as Romualds Kalsons, Juris Karlsons, Ingmārs Zemzars and Ansis Sauka. The second half of each concert will include popular songs arranged by Kulakovs, perhaps best known as a founder of the rock group Pērkons, as well as Neopolitan songs and works the tenors have recently performed with the Rīga Dome Boys Choir.

Concerts are scheduled Aug. 20 in Catskill, N.Y.; Aug. 24 in Minneapolis, Minn.; Aug. 25 in Plymouth, Minn.; Aug. 26 in Milwaukee, Wis.; Aug. 27 in Cleveland, Ohio; Aug. 28 in Detroit, Mich.; Aug. 29 in Chicago, Ill.; Aug. 30 in Kalamazoo, Mich.; Sept. 1 in Lincoln, Neb.; Sept. 2 in Denver, Colo.; Sept. 4 in Seattle, Wash.; Sept. 5 in Portland, Ore.; Sept. 13 in Houston, Texas; Sept. 16 in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Sept. 18 in the Latvian center Priedaine near Freehold, N.J., and Sept. 19 in Long Island, New York.

The Three Latvian Tenors have released two recordings, Piacer d’Amor in 2000 and Mīlas lidojums this year.

For further information about the artists, visit www.threelatviantenors.com.

A total of 158 persons from Latvia will be allowed to apply for permanent residency under the U.S. government’s 2005 diversity lottery, the State Department has announced.

The diversity lottery each year allows up to 50,000 people from countries with low immigration rates to apply for permanent residency. If granted, the person may permanently live and work in the United States, as well as bring their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21.

More than 5.9 million people applied under the 2005 program. Applications were accepted for a 60-day period from Nov. 1-Dec. 30, 2003. The 50,000 who were chosen will have until Sept. 30, 2005, to successfully complete the visa process.

A total of 64 people from Estonia and 1,114 from Lithuania were chosen in the 2005 lottery, the State Department announced July 29.

Last year, 172 persons from Latvia were chosen for the 2004 lottery.