The Shetland Islands are the northern-most part of the United Kingdom. A group of islands situated between the Atlantic and the North Sea, they are a windy, cold and lonely place. For one Estonian fisherman, they proved to be quite terrifying.* The waters around the Shetland Islands are well known …
The day the Soviets invaded Britain to capture an Estonian Read More »
Some of the finest minds in the Baltic are to gather in Cambridge on 10/11 October to discuss education, which is the theme of this year’s Cambridge Baltic Conference. After a successful one day event in 2013, which focused on the Baltic/EU relationship, the event is now spread over two …
Cambridge Baltic Conference 2014 to focus on education Read More »
“A bus ticket from Tallinn to Tartu costs twenty Estonian kroons” is how Tõnu Õnnepalu’s hefty tome Radio begins, and it is indeed hefty. As opening sentences go, it’s devoid of much beyond the literal meaning but it sets the scene for much of the following 600 odd pages. The …
It goes without saying that concerts featuring any kind of crossover element tend to drag, but on the night of 24 April at the Barbican this adage, and a piano lift, were stretched to their maximum. Kicking off proceedings at London’s brutalist Barbican Centre was Arvo Pärt’s Fratres (“Brethren”), here …
As part of the London A Cappella Festival, on 22 January the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir performed “An Eastern Vigil”, at LSO St Luke’s, conducted by Daniel Reuss, accompanied by Gilad Atzmon, which included works by Pärt, Rachmaninov and others. There are no better words than “solemn” and “mysterious” with which to describe …
Review: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir at LSO St Luke’s in London Read More »
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has, for the third year running, been given the title of the “world’s most performed living composer” by the classical music event database, bachtrack.com. Placing 38th in the overall composers’ ranking, he was ranked higher than his two principal competitors, Scottish composer James Macmillan, who came …
Arvo Pärt world’s most performed composer for third year running (video) Read More »
In April 2013, Labour MP and shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant courted controversy when he slammed businesses in his South Wales constituency for “hiring Estonians and Latvians” instead of the local population. “It would be nice sometimes when you go into a British hotel if the receptionist was British,” was …
Map: Estonians in England and Wales – how many really are there? Read More »
President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, extolled the virtues of Estonia’s e-government infrastructure and IT systems and discussed trust and identity on Tuesday in a keynote speech hosted by the Legatum Institute in London. The broad theme of Ilves’s speech was that of identity and trust. Making reference to Peter …
President Ilves in London: “Big Brother” vs “Little Sister” Read More »
The year is 1944. During the last half-decade, Estonia has been ravaged by the Soviets and the Nazis in almost equal measure. 10,000 people have been deported to a likely death in Siberia by the Soviets and another 10,000 have been killed in Nazi concentration camps. Now the Nazis are …
Book review: Caught between Scylla and Charybdis – “Forest Brothers” by Geraint Roberts Read More »
What “c” do Aberdeen, Miami and Tavira have in common? Currency? No. Climate? Certainly not. The “c” in this case stands for consul – honorary consul, to be precise. Of the 193 countries in the United Nations, the Republic of Estonia has a diplomatic presence of some kind in 82 …