One of the most persistent shortcuts in writing about the Baltics is to treat Soviet Russification as if it landed evenly across all three republics. It did not. By the last Soviet census in 1989, ethnic Russians made up about 30% of Estonia’s population, 34% of Latvia’s, and 9.4% of Lithuania’s. Those numbers were not a historical accident, and they were not simply the result of one republic being “more Western” or another being “more Russian-friendly.” They reflected three different Soviet-era roles assigned to three neighboring republics.

For much of the 20th century, the orchestra conductor was imagined as an elder statesman: authoritative, formidable, and often distant. Today, that image is changing. A new generation of conductors — some still under 35 — is rising into positions that were once considered the preserve of older, institutionally seasoned figures. The most visible example is Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who was appointed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s next music director in 2024 and is set to begin his tenure in the 2027–28 season, while simultaneously holding or preparing for senior roles with the Orchestre de Paris and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Centuries ago, the far north of Scandinavia had no clear national boundaries. The region was sparsely populated by the Sámi people, who at times paid taxes to multiple kingdoms in overlapping “no man’s land” zones. As early as 1326, Norway and the Republic of Novgorod (medieval Russia) signed the Treaty of Novgorod to divide their spheres of influence in the Arctic, determining which Sámi communities would pay tribute to which realm.

Imagine riding a subway under the snow-dusted streets of Scandinavia, surrounded by art-covered tunnel walls or gliding driverless through a sleek station. The Nordic countries boast a handful of metro systems – in Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, and Copenhagen – each reflecting the era and ethos in which it was built. Meanwhile, across the Baltic Sea, ambitious subway plans once flickered in Soviet times, only to be halted by history.