Concertgoers in Ireland will get a taste of the 2008 Latvian Song and Dance Festival when two choirs—one Irish and one Latvian—perform together in the western county of Mayo.

Cór Mhaigheo, formerly known as Mayo County Choir, and the Dublin-based Latvian immigrant choir eLVe will perform at 8:30 p.m. April 5 in the Town Hall Theatre, Kiltimagh. Tickets for the concert, priced at EUR 5 and EUR 10, will be available at the door.

Cór Mhaigheo also is to perform during the Foreign Guest Group Concert scheduled July 9 in the Dome Square of Rīga’s Old Town during the song and dance festival. To help with expenses for the trip to Latvia, Cór Mhaigheo in March was awarded a EUR 2,000 grant from the Irish government’s Culture Ireland.

Cór Mhaigheo, founded in 1994 and directed by Brian Lennon, performs a wide repertoire ranging from 15th century choral music to contemporary choral and secular works.

The Latvian choir eLVe, conducted by Ingūna Grietiņa, began in 2006 under the sponsorhip of the Latvian Society in Ireland. The choir has become popular in the east of Ireland, but this will be eLVe’s first performance in the west, spokesperson Zane Joyce said in a press release.

Last year, members of eLVe participated in the U.S. Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Indianapolis. This year, like Cór Mhaigheo, the choir is planning to travel to Latvia to perform as part of July’s song and dance festival.

Thirty-five years after its founding by Latvian immigrant Juris George Miķelsons, the U.S. carrier ATA Airlines has filed bankruptcy and suspended operations—leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at airports.

In an April 3 press release, the company blamed cancellation of a U.S. military charter contract for forcing it into bankruptcy. ATA customers should seek alternative arrangements for travel, the company said.

“We deeply regret the disruption and hardship caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA, an outcome we and our employees had worked very hard and made many sacrifices to avoid,” CEO Doug Yakola said in a prepared statement.

This is the second time the Indianapolis, Ind.-based carrier has entered bankruptcy.

Miķelsons founded ATA in 1973. The airline initially was operated as a private travel club, but in 1986 began flying general passengers as well, eventually becoming the 10th largest passenger airline in the United States. In 1990, ATA introduced a short-lived service from Kennedy Airport in New York to the international airport at Rīga.

Miķelsons first retired from the company in 1998, but came out of retirement to help lead the company through its restructuring after it went bankrupt in 2004. He retired again in 2005.

New York investment firm Matlin Patterson bought ATA in 2006 and made it part of the holding company Global Aero Logistics. The airline finished 2007 with a loss of USD 75 million, according to documents filed April 2 in U.S. Bankrupcty Court in Indianapolis. About 2,300 ATA employees are affected by the airline’s closure.