Latvian Pianist to Perform at USBF Gala in May
WASHINGTON, DC—Latvian pianist Armands Abols will perform at the U.S.-Baltic Foundation’s gala dinner honoring Latvian President Valdis Zatlers during the 2009 U.S.-Baltic Confluence: Forum, Exchange and Gala. The gala dinner will be held on Saturday, May 16 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. For additional information or to purchase tickets for the weekend events, please visit www.usbaltic.org.
Armands Abols was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973, and attended the prestigious Emils Darzins Music School. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Riga and completed post graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Armands Abols has performed through Europe, South American, and Canada. He has performed at Weill Hall and the UN Concert Hall in New York and has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bogota Symphony Orchestra, the Chile Symphony Orchestra and many others.
Armands Abols is known for his technical ability, dizzying virtuosity, and artistic maturity. Professional music critics in Europe, the United States and South America have consistently rated him as one of the finest young pianists of today. He currently resides in Valdivia, Chile, where he is a Professor at the Music Conservatory of Universidad Austral of Chile. There, he recorded the Chilean Piano Music Anthology to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Chile as a country.
The week will begin with a business conference “2009 U.S.-Baltic Supply Chain Venture Forum” which will be held at the Latvian Embassy on Thursday and Friday. The business program is being chaired by Gustav Plato, CEO of iiGrowth and Director of the Board of the newly formed Latvian Chamber of Commerce in the Americas. For additional information on the business program, please visit www.usbaltic.org.
On Friday there will be a VIP reception at the Embassy of Poland from 6:00- 8:00pm. On Saturday, from 12:00 to 1:30pm at the Mayflower Hotel, there will be a luncheon featuring a discussion about the current economic situation with the sitting Ambassadors from the United States and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The gala dinner begins at 6:00pm with a reception and silent auction at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.
The U.S.- Baltic Foundation is an educational resource for U.S. policy-makers and the public. A national organization that unites all American friends of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, USBF develops and implements programs to strengthen democracy and free markets in the Baltics. The Foundation also introduces the Baltics to new American audiences with a series of public affairs programs.
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