Riga Festival 2018

Riga Festival 2018

Date:  – 17.08.2018 to 19.08.2018

Riga City Festival – involving countless concerts in Riga’s concert halls, gardens and parks, games, entertainment and sporting activities for grown-ups and children. The Riga City Festival is also a great opportunity to enjoy Riga and its wonderful architecture, as well as to get to know the suburbs. Traditionally, the Riga Retro international antique car convention takes place annually. Events are also on at Vērmanes Dārzs, Doma Laukums, 11.Novembra krastmala, the Spīķeri Quarter, and in other locations. All of Riga’s residents and visitors are welcome to participate.

RIGA CITY FESTIVAL RESTAURANT

18. August 12.00 – 20.00 Spīķeru Central Square

Restaurants often stand out not only with excellent food but also a thoughtful and refined interior that creates a pleasant mood and allows the meal to taste even better. Riga is no less sophisticated and appetite provoking, therefore in cooperation with the best restaurants Riga City Festival Restaurant will open its doors under the open sky for the fifth time already in Spīķeru Square.

Riga’s chefs will introduce Riga’s inhabitants and city guests to seasonal dishes that have been made from local products. In honour of Latvia’s Centenary Latvian chefs have agreed that the number 100 has to dominate in the offered meals. This number will permeate every dish whether it is 100 grams, units, flavours, nuances or aftertastes. Hundreds of good emotions are also promised by the musicians who will perform at the restaurant all day long.

 

LIGHT SHOW “THE STORY OF WATER IN THE MOONLIGHT”

18. August 23.00 – 04.00 City Canal next to the Freeport of Riga Authority building

Freeport of Riga Authority invites to a show of musical fountains and water lights. Every half hour Riga City Festival’s guests are invited to get comfortable on the shores of Riga Canal in Kronvalda Park next to the Freeport of Riga Authority lighthouse and enjoy a short but romantic 10 minutes long story of the port of Riga.

RIGA CITY FESTIVAL’S GRAND CONCERT “GOOD EVENING, RIGA! GOOD EVENING, LATVIA!”

18. August 21.00 – 23.15 11. novembra krastmala

The concept of the concert is based on the Third Awakening in Latvia — a time period in the history of the Baltic States between 1986 and 1991 culminating in the complete restoration of national independence in all three countries.

Participants: Ginta Krievkalna, Zigfrīds Muktupāvels, Daumants Kalniņš, Aļģirdas Šuminskas (Lithuania) and band “Big Al & The Jokers”, Ivo Linna and Maarjas-Liis Ilus (Estonia), Aija Andrejeva, Alex, Māra Upmane-Holšteina, Goran-Gora, Kristīne Kārkle-Kalniņa, Marts Kristiāns Kalniņš, Riga Chamber Choir “Ave Sol”, instrumental group under the leadership of Kristaps Krievkalns and the Riga City Festival Orchestra, as well as composers Mārtiņš Brauns, Uldis Marhilēvičs and Jānis Lūsēns.

The concert will conclude with celebratory fireworks at 23.00.

 

Text and Photos from: www.rigassvetki.lv

THE SONG AND DANCE CELEBRATION 2018

THE SONG AND DANCE CELEBRATION 2018

Date:30 June to 8 July 2018

Place: Riga, Latvia

 

Tickets – https://www.dziesmusvetki.lv/en/tickets/

 

Today is a big day for song … Fanfares will play! And the flags of the Song and Dance Celebrations of 1873 and 2018 will fly, divided and united by 145 years. But the feelings are unchanging-pride in our people, our country, our traditions. Even through the most difficult periods of history, the Latvian people have come together, united in our joy of music, song, and dance. The Song and Dance Celebration-an unforgettable amatuer artisitc phenomenon with a century-and-a-half of tradition.

 

The XXVI Latvian Song and XVI Dance Celebration 2018
The XXVI Latvian Song and XVI Dance Celebration will take place in Riga from 30 June to 8 July 2018 in the spirit of the Latvian Centenary. The Celebration week is the culmination of what the organisers—the Latvian National Center for Culture—and the amateur ensembles have been preparing for since the XXV Latvian Song and XV Dance Celebration.

During Celebration week, Riga will host 40 000 participants from 118 Latvian municipalities, and from many other countries where Latvians continue to uphold and develop the traditions of the Song and Dance Celebration. For seven days they will take part in more than 54 events—choirs, dance ensembles, brass bands, kokle players, folk musicians, vocal ensembles, folklore ensembles, and others will perform in various events, the Latvian folk costume exhibition, the Latvian applied art exhibition, and amateur theatre performances. 500 000 celebration-goers (roughly ¼ of the Latvian population—1,96 million) will be able to attend (ticketed and free) events.

The Main Events
The XXVI Latvian Song and XVI Dance Celebration will open on 1 July 2018 with the traditional sacred music concert at the Riga Cathedral, followed by the Celebration Procession throughout the streets of Riga. Participants showing off their rich folk costumes will walk a route that takes several hours through the streets of Riga. The procession will conclude with a special opening event dedicated to the participants.

The most anticipated events are the great dance performance Māra’s Country and the closing concert Following the Starry Path. Approximately 17 000 dancers in the Daugava Stadium will tell the rich history of Latvia through music, energy, movement, rhythm, color, and the patterns created by the steps of their folk dances.

Celebration week culminates in the closing concert Following the Starry Path, in which the voices of 12 000 singers on the Mežaparks Open-air Stage will enchant their listeners in three hour concert of the most outstanding Latvian professional choral music. As the prepared concert ends, audience members will be invited to add their voices, and the Nighttime Sing-along will continue until sunrise.

The Venues
The Song and Dance Celebration will take place throughout the city of Riga. The venues will be transformed with special scenographic solutions, ambitious stages will be built, and large screens will be set up in urban areas so that audiences can fully enjoy the Celebrations. The main choir and dance events will be held at the historical venues—the Mežaparks Open-air Stage and the Daugava Stadium. Both venues are currently undergoing reconstruction so that they will be ready to receive both participants and spectators of the Song and Dance Celebration in their new forms in 2018.

 

More info  and Text & Photos – www.dziesmusvetki.lv

Autumn Riga Restaurant week 2017

restaurant week Riga

Autumn Riga Restaurant week  (09.10.17 -15.10.17) – during this special week, Riga’s restaurants open their doors to all gourmands willing to treat themselves to an array of delicious tastes for an especially affordable price of 15–20 euros for a three-course meal. For the entire week, all the city’s residents and guests have the chance to enjoy the season’s best foods prepared by experienced and innovative chefs who give each meal a modern and sophisticated twist.

 

More info LiveRiga.com: link

August – Riga City Festival 2017

Riga City Festival 2017

18.08.2017
19.08.2017
20.08.2017

 

This year’s Riga City Festival is dedicated to Riga’s parks and gardens, inviting all city residents and guests for garden festivities in the city center, as well as in the suburbs.

During the festival, various outdoor cultural events will be held in Vērmane Park, Cathedral Gardeb, Zunda Garden, Dzegužkalns Park, Arkādija Park, Ziemeļblāzma Park and elsewhere. The extensive program of theatrical events and concerts will acquaint festival goers about the capital’s parks and gardens, their history and what they look like today. As usual, various outdoor fairs will also be organized, where Latvian farmers and craftsmen will offer their products.

Text -LiveRiga.com

Foto -google.com

Līgo market (22 of June)

Līgo market (22 of June)

Place: Dome Square

To properly prepare for the annual Midsummer of Līgo! festival, a traditional market will once again be organized on Riga’s Dome Square, where farmers and craftsmen from all over Latvia will offer flower bunches and garlands, oak leaf crowns, traditional teas and honey from Latvia’s aromatic summer fields, country bread, cheeses, warm pastries, smoked meat and other goodies necessary to properly celebrate the merry festival. Furthermore, Latvia’s best craftsmen will also be on hand, offering a wide range of items – wickerwork, clay dishes, linen tablecloths and bed covers, knitted items, wooden spoons, as well as traditional jewelry made of amber and silver. Meanwhile, traditional musical and dance collectives from Riga will maintain a merry festival atmosphere throughout the day!

 

Text source: LiveRiga.com

Photo source: Google.com