About entertainment
RAIMONDS OZOLS
Concert master of first violin group of Latvian National Symphony orchestra.
Raimonds as a soloist has proved high professional standards performing classic as well as popular music performing with acoustic and electric violin. Music critics and professionals admit that this is great opportunity to enjoy classical music in a 21st century interpretation – a combination of classical and rock music. Performing popular compositions alongside with new selections reveals refined sonority and the unique idiom of Raimonds Ozols.
Linda Leen
Linda Leen is one of the most popular artists in Latvia, whose concerts are attended by audiences numbering in the thousands. Since 2000, Linda has created various images and expressed herself in several musical genres on the professional musical stage, starting from the award winning debut pop album Let’s Go Insane, to Cabaret, academic, jazz and acoustic musical programs and continuing on to concerts at the Latvian National Opera, Daile Theater, Arena Riga and other concert halls in and outside of Latvia.
Intars Busulis
I have to admit that my creative life might remind the famous table game „Cirks”, where you throw your lucky dice and then look where the life is gonna take you. And it really has taken me to different places. I have participated in jazz festivals in Lithuania (Kaunas Jazz), Estonia (Nomme Jazz, Jazz Kaar), France (MIDEM), Finland (Pori Jazz) Canada (Otawa Jazz) and, of course, Latvia (Sony Jazz Stage), I have taken part in several musicales - „Notre Dame de Paris” (2007), „Autoplantet”, directed by Latvian musicians Mārtiņš Freimanis and Kārlis Anitens (2005), „Mass” (a musical created by Leonard Bernstain) (2007), and performed in the projects directed by a producer company „Virus Art” Cabaret („Cabaret” (2004), „Kino Cabaret” (2005), „Cabaret Allez” (2006), „Cabaret plin, plin ...” (2007)) and „Viva la bomba” together with such musicians as Aija Vītoliņa, Laimis Rācenājs, Uldis Marhilēvičs etc. I am grateful to life for the possibility to play with such great names in Latvian music as Kārlis Lācis and Sweetwaterz, Maestro Raimonds Pauls, Māris Briežkalns and his quintet, Gunārs Rozenbergs and Mirage Jazz Ochestra, Deniss Paškēvičs and Riga Groove Electro, Liepājas Symphonic Orchestra, Melo M, Sofija Rubina etc.
Aya Andreyeva
Representative of Latvia, the 24-year-old Aisha (real name Aya Andreyeva) was born into the family of a legendary singer of the Latvian hard rock band Opus Pro. At the age of five, the small Aya took second place in a competition of young singers – the“Calis'91”. The girl studied flute and piano at the Lie lvarde Music School. At the same time, she was invited to play in the local brass band “Sirius”. Being part of this band, Aya won second place at a woodwind competition. A year later, the 12-year old talent presented herself successfully at the “Parade of Young Conductors”, after Q.
Instrumenti
Instrumenti– this is one of the most interesting and promising new European music projects. The Instrumenti band was founded by two professional musicians in Riga– by Shipsi (keyboard, vocals) and Reynsi (drums, keyboards, vocals). At the beginning of their independent career, they appeared incognito and performed in panda masks .The success of their first album“Tru” (2011) allowed them to go out into the public openly. The album received gold status in Latvia, and the musicians filled the largest indoor hall of the capital –the Arena Riga, an 8,000-seat hockey stadium.
The success of the Instrumenti band can be compared with that of pop icons like Hurts and Mika, and dreamy soundscapes like Sigur Ros and Of Monsters And Men.
YUZEFA
YUZEFA cover band – is a unique cover project, which combines stylish classical music and the extravagance of modern tunes, retro hits and new fresh sounds, electro-beat and totally live performances.
YUZEFA musicians are ready to make your holiday memorable! You will be able to hear on the same stage Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Abba, Rihanna, Boney M, Madonna, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Donna Summer and many others.
DJs usually remix the ready material. We, first of all, remix and then the musical material is transferred to live sound, adapting each song to the musical composition.
YUZEFA band’s repertoire consists of 1980s, 1990s and 2000s hits, as well as current favorites! All songs are adapted to a dance beat, so you will surely want to dance“till you drop”!
Are you bored with numerous groups with a monotonous cover repertoire, using a phonogram? Do you want to impress your guests, customers, by a striking and unusual show? Do you need professional musicians for your holiday?
Everything you need is found in the YUZEFA cover band.
Mariya Naumova
The singer began to work with the composer Raimonds Pauls in 1994. In 1995, she took part in a young talents TV contest, and was warmly received by the audience. In 1998, she performed in a concert celebrating the 100-year jubilee of George Gershwin, after which she gained national fame. In 1999 she released her first solo album “To Bright Tears” (Do svetlykh slyoz), written in Russian. The album released in 2001,“Ieskatiesacis” became gold record with two weeks, and in 11 months, it became platinum. The same year, she recorded an album in French “Ma Voix, Ma Voie”. It won the Audience Award at the Voice of Asia Contest.
In 2000, she participated in the national selection for Eurovisionfor the first time, and earned second place. After this unsuccessful attempt, the following year she won the qualifying round, and then the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002 with the song “I Wanna”. Maria wrote the melody to it herself. The song won first place in the contest, but was not released by record companies outside her home country.
Jenia Lubich
Her voice can be heard on Nouvelle Vague’s most recent albums, and in 2011 she had released her first solo-album in Russia. Called “C’est la vie,” the CD was recorded at Kwaidan Records in Paris with French musicians and contains 11 songs that Jenia wrote in Russian, French and English.
“C’est la Vie” includes the ironic “Russian Girl” (who has “vodka in her blood” and “dances with brown bears,”), frantic “Pagubno” (“pernicious”) , love song “Galaxy,” mysterious “Make it Red”, dreamy “Le blanc Danse”, very cinematic “Chernoe” (The Black), which is the sketches of St. Petersburg images and impressions: “I wrote “Chernoe” when I was walking over Palace Bridge in the rain, cars were speeding by, and it was cold and dark. It’s true, ‘in this black city only the night is white,’ that’s what I felt”. The album ends with a song “C'est la Vie”, which gave the title to the entire CD. As Jenia says “This expression is French, but every Russian knows what it means. This song is about life and its turns, somehow it reflects the content and the essence of the whole album”.
Before joining Nouvelle Vague and then embarking on a solo career, Jenia Lubich took part in a number of projects. She performed with classical repertoire in Finland & Hungary. In 2000 she started studying Modern Vocal, as well as Piano, Music History, Music Journalism at Smolny College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (St.Petersburg, Russia) and Bard College (New York, U.S.A.). Her song “Ville de France” appeared among the tracks of De-Phazz, VFSix and Incognito on a “Nu lounge” CD
Alex Dubas
Alex Dubas is a Latvian TV radio host and writer. He works at the Russian television channels “Culture” and “My Planet”, as well as having his own show on the “Silver Rain” radio station. He wrote the book “Rules of Aquastop”, which became a bestseller in Russia. In 2013, this book was published in the Latvian language as “Akvastopa noteikumi”. The book is now being translated into German and Chinese languages. In 2014, two of Alex’s new books will appear simultaneously.
Yevgeny Gavrilov
Yevgeny began his career as a restaurateur in 2002 in Riga, with the“ZEN” Tearoom. Since then, he has had more than 10 successful restaurant projects, including the sensational “Griboyedov” and “Yurmala”, opened together with AntonTabakov.Working in the restaurant business, Yevgeny discovered his interest in the technology of preparing various dishes that forms the basis of any good restaurant. This fact made him work on becoming a cook. First, he prepared food under the guidance of the most experienced and well-known chefs in Moscow, and later independently.
Yevgeny’s second hobby is traveling. It is not surprising that these two passions merged into one – he started bringing recipes from his trips. However,Yevgeny did not merely repeat the recipes invented by others. Thanks to his rich imagination and creativity, Yevgeny has created more than 1,000 unique dishes – both simple and complex, but always delicious.