The Riga Jurmala Music Festival remains a singular one in the landscape of Europe’s summer classical music festivals. It is composed of weekends anchored around a visiting international symphonic orchestra and its music director. The weekends are scheduled between early July and September.
The orchestra performs two different programmes with outstanding soloists, while the third evening is devoted to a recital or chamber music. Noon recitals on the weekend dates feature up-and-coming as well as established artists. The repertoire focuses primarily on the core classical music canon.
After the inaugural year, the Riga Jurmala Music Festival has arguably marked its territory on the map of summer festivals*. One reason is that few festivals can invite so many distinguished international symphonic orchestras each season. The other may be the Festival team’s innovation, as evidenced by its creative responses to the pandemic: Musical Soirées, the Riga Jurmala Academy, a documentary with a new perspective on the life of conductor Mariss Jansons.
* The Festival was included in British newspaper The Telegraph’s top 10 summer festivals, in addition to gaining a prestigious EFFE Label from the European Festivals Association.
