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Opening the November-December 2012 Concert Series Seattle’s classical music lovers filled the Benaroya Symphony Hall to its capacity to hear Neeme Järvi conduct Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Arabella Steinbacher, violinist.  After Järvi’s first performance, Seattle Classical Music Critic, Philippa Kiraly, writing for the Seattle Times newspaper, summed up...

  The Estonian American National Council has just published its first newsletter, containing news about its activities and about events, people and issues of interest to Estonian Americans. EANC plans to publish the free “EANC Newsletter” four times a year. In order to keep costs down, EANC will send as...

  VES #44, November 1, 2012   Logically, there is something askew in the newly published University of Tartu doctoral thesis by Tõnu Esko, et al.  The study not only claims that we are closer to Latvians and Russians, genetically, than to Finns, but reflective of foreign rule in Estonia...

  Dr. Ekaterina (Tina) Khmelnitskaya, Curator of Russian Porcelain from Russia’s world famous State Hermitage Museum, was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford last spring.    She is doing research about artists who worked in the Imperial porcelain factory in the early 20th century, but left in 1917.  The main sculptor...

  It’s clear that the leadership and day-to-day management of VEKSA was entrusted to veteran KGB officers, some with foreign intelligence experience. How specific were the directions developed by the Communist Party/KBG in establishing VEKSA’s pursuits? KGB officer Paul (Pavel) Toom, head of the 1st chief directorate of the Estonian...

  The sun sparkled as we drove south from Võru and up a gentle slope to Suur Munamägi (Big Egg Mountain), the highest point in Estonia and, well, like a subdued hill. From the top of the tower we looked upon a rolling landscape of forest with patches of farmland,...

  The Estonian Students Fund in the USA (ESF) provides scholarships and grants to students of Estonian descent.  The Fund has adapted to changing needs since its inception in 1961.  In the early years scholarships were given to recent émigré students. Although the focus remains on supporting 2nd and 3rd...

  We left Tallinn in our rental car and headed southwest toward Pärnu, the start of our counter-clockwise trip around Estonia. With little idea of what to see en route we decided to wander from one historic spot to another using the guidebook, Estonian Museums, and following the ubiquitous brown...

Although I’d never been to the homeland, I’ve always felt like an Estonian. Growing up in Canada, my family spoke Estonian at home and my brothers and I were involved in the Estonian community in and around Toronto. At university my involvement with the Estonian community continued although at a...

  ERR News - The head of Enterprise Estonia, Ülari Alamets, who refused to resign upon the suggestion of the agency's supervisory board last week, has reconsidered and decided to step down. The supervisory board was due to meet on Tuesday to discuss whether Alamets should be let go due...