A London-based classical music review website has, for the second year running, named Arvo Pärt the year's most-performed living composer. Bachtrack.com put the 77-year-old Estonian in 54th place overall in its "Concert and Opera League Tables 2012," a list created from a sampling of 12,597 concerts and 4,451 opera performances. 

"[The] table contains the composers who featured in the greatest number of concerts during the year: a composer gets an entry if at least one work was performed in a given concert," the article accompanying the rankings said. 

At its 60th Anniversary Gala in September 2012, The Estonian American National Council (EANC) announced that it would distribute a portion of the Gala proceeds to the Long Island Estonian Children’s Summer Camp and the Estonian American Girl Guides and Boy Scouts. On December 15 at the “Järvemetsa” Christmas celebration in Lakewood, New Jersey,  EANC Board member Ilmar Vanderer presented checks to Leena Kangro and Tina Fischgrund for the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts.   The Long Island Estonian Children’s Summer Camp also received its special donation check from EANC last month.  

 

Have you considered popping some suir as part of a healthier New Year's regime? Or tried sõir as an appetizer (eel/roog)? They're both made for consumption with great care and love.

When I first typed sõir into my internet search engine (otsingu/mootor), the only hits I got were for soir – evening in French. And I have to admit, I kept forgetting "that other word" (suir), that I've wanted to simultaneously introduce for a while, since it's so similar and most likely just as new to readers. Are they both fringe delicacies? Well, suir (bee pollen), also known as mesilaste leib (bee bread) is not eaten for its great taste. In fact it's kibe (bitter), some say hapu (sour) and magically, naturally hapendatud (fermented) by the bee's secret ingredient, an amazing lactic acid bacteria (piim/happe/bakter).

Wrapping up the old year well might be more important to Estonians than a spectacular start to the new. Depending of course on how superstitious you are. Why else do Estonians wish each other "Head vana-aasta lõppu" – "Happy end of the old year", up until the clock has struck midnight on New Year's Eve? That's not heard in English-speaking countries. No need to get ahead of ourselves, just in case. Similarly, the tradition of baby showers is a foreign concept in Eesti. Once the child has arrived, a visit is made to meet him or her, called katsikud, katsikule minek.

 (Washington, DC) -  The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC), representing the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian communities in the United States, enthusiastically applauds the passage of the Magnitsky Act in the U.S. Congress, and the signing of the Act into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 14.