Riga Jurmala Music Festival presents series of Musical Soirées at iconic sites across the region!

Last weekend, July 9th to 11th, saw the first Rīga Jūrmala Music Festival’s Musical Soirées take place in front of Riga’s Latvian National Opera.

While this year’s Festival has been cancelled, audiences in Riga and Jurmala are able to hear the planned repertoire for the Festival is a series of open-air broadcasts of recordings. Presented in a highly creative way, listeners get the impression that the music is coming from their surroundings - its parks, trees and bushes – which is combined with light installations created by artist Krišs Salmanis.

Patrons are encouraged to bring their own picnics and the reaction of participants was estatic as people felt it was a much needed public coming together to share a cultural moment as Latvia comes out of the pandemic and opens up to tourism and cultural events.

“We wanted to create a way for us to give the Festival audience the chance to hear this year’s planned concert programme and to show that Riga and Jūrmala are continuing to live life even during this unique summer. We are truly happy to see that both Festival followers as well as passersby and visitors to the city enjoyed the nearly two magical hours each evening accompanied by classical music,” explains Zane Čulkstēna, Executive Director of the Rīga Jūrmala Festival.

The first Musical Soirées included recordings of works that would have been performed during the Festival’s opening weekend. Among the recordings resonating around the gardens surrounding the opera house were Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Gautier Capuçon; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas with pianist András Schiff and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with Radu Lupu, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Zubin Mehta.

The next planned Musical Soirées will take place on the 17^th and 18^th of July at 8.00pm on the Dzintari beach in Jurmala, Turaidas street:

Programme of the 17 July:

Antonin DVOŘÁK Rusalka Fantasy (arr. Manfred Honeck and Tomáš Ille)

Maurice RAVEL Piano Concerto in G major, M 83

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92

Programme of the 18 July:

In order to enjoy the evening at its finest, our partner restaurant Barents will take care of picnic baskets and refreshments, which can be ordered before the event or will be available for purchasing on site.

However, to satisfy everyone’s wishes and ensure well-being, visitors are also welcome to come with their own pre-prepared picnic baskets. Pre-order HERE!

Riga Jurmala Musical Soirées are supported by the Riga City Council, Riga Tourism Development Bureau and Ice Cream Ekselence.

Our supporters: Amber Beverage Group, Cross Keys Gin, saldējums “Ekselence”, Food Union, Rietumu Banka, Forta Pro, izdevnniecība “Rīgas Viļņi”, Uniting History, Zuzeum, airBaltic, Baltic Travel Group, FBO Riga, Grand Hotel Kempinski, Rigas Dome, Live Riga, JSC “Latvijas kuģniecība”.