On a visit to Bulgaria, Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga opened an honorary consulate in the capital city of Sofia and named Alexander Dimitrov-Popov as the honorary consul, according to the president’s press office.

Latvia does not have an embassy in Bulgaria. Rather, diplomatic relations are handled by Ambassodor Uldis Vītoliņš, Latvia’s ambassador in Poland.

Dimitrov-Popov heads up one of Bulgaria’s leading law firms, Popov & Partner, according to the LETA news agency.

In addition to opening the honorary consulate, Vīķe-Freiberga during her visit also met with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and spoke to the Atlantic Club in Sofia. Vīķe-Freiberga’s trip to Bulgaria was the first ever by a Latvian head of state.

A performance by the Kronos Quartet of Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks’ “String Quartet No. 4” is among recordings nominated for a Grammy Award, the Recording Academy has announced in Los Angeles.

The performance, released in August on a compact disc single, is one of three by the Kronos Quartet featuring work by three internationally known composers, according to quartet’s recording company, Nonesuch Records. The compositions were commissioned to celebrate the Kronos Quartet’s 30th anniversary. Vasks’ “String Quartet No. 4,” according to Nonesuch, “somberly reflects on the passing of the last century.”

The Kronos Quartet was nominated twice this year for Best Chamber Music Performance, once for the Vasks composition and once for its performance of Austrian composer Alban Berg’s “Lyric Suite,” which features the soprano Dawn Upshaw.

Others nominated in the category are Michael Cox, Nicholas Daniel and the Maggini Quarter for “String Quartet No. 1” by Arthur Bliss; Speculum Musicae for “Oboe Quartet” by Elliott Carter, and Boris Berman and the Vermeer Quartet for their performances of piano quintets by Dmitry Shostakovich and Alfred Schnittke.

The Kronos Quartet, formed in 1973 in Seattle but now based in San Francisco, consists of Jennifer Culp on cello, Hank Dutt on viola, David Harrington on violin and John Sherba on violin.

In other Baltics-related Grammy nominations, two recordings involving Estonian choirs are up for awards for Best Choral Performance. Conductor Paul Hillier is nominated for his work on Baltic Voices 1, featuring the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Conductor Paavo Jarvi and chorus masters Tiia-Ester Loitme and Ants Soots are nominated for Sibelius: Cantatas, which features the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir, the Estonian National Male Choir and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

Robina G. Young is nominated for Classical Producer of the Year for her work on several recordings including Baltic Voices 1 and The Powers Of Heaven, both of which feature Hillier conducting the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

Winners of the Grammy Awards will be announced Feb. 8. —Andris Straumanis

The first three albums of “Mantojums” (Inheritance), a new series of recordings featuring Latvian folk stories and beliefs, has been released by Upe Recording Co. in Rīga.

The albums include Pasaules radīšana, featuring creation stories told by Leons Krivāns, and Putnu un zvēru valoda, featuring stories about the language of birds and animals told by Pēteris Liepiņš. Both albums include music composed by Kaspars Tobis.

The third album, Stāsti un dziesmas, features 96-year-old storyteller Marija Golubova of the Viļaka region talking about her life and singing songs. The album is produced by folk singer Biruta Ozoliņa.

“The stories are first of all meant for children,” Ainars Mielavs, head of Upe Recording, told Latvians Online. “But adults who have heard them also found them interesting.” The Golubova recording, meanwhile, is meant for a narrow audience. “Absolutely noncommercial,” Mielavs said of the album.

How many more albums will be produced is not yet known, Mielavs said, and will depend on reaction to these first three.

The stories were chosen based on how interesting and engrossing they are. “UPE isn’t about to become an academic publisher and do what the state’s cultural politicians should do,” Mielavs commented.

Mielavs credited his wife, Iveta Mielava, for the idea for “Mantojums.” She also is the producer of the series. —Andris Straumanis