Event Guide

ESTONIA

September 02 – October 30, Autumn Jazz 2018, various venues in Tallinn

Organized by the NPO Jazzkaare Sõprade Ühing, the Autumn Jazz 2018 will be held in September-October. Jazzkaar’s concert season Autumn Jazz 2018 highlights local musicians, their new projects and exciting jazz finds from Europe. The festival’s full program and other info is available at www.jazzkaar.ee. 

September 03-09, Estonian Theatre Festival Drama, various venues in Tartu

Estonian Theatre Festival Drama is a curatorial festival and its main program includes the most interesting and the best productions of the Estonian Theatre. In addition to the festival’s main program, the festival also offers a fascinating alternative program, music events, lovely discussions, and pleasant evenings in the festival club. Estonian Theatre Festival Drama will take place in various places in Tartu. For more information please go to the festival website www.draama.ee 

September 03-10, Saaremaa Food Festival, Saaremaa

Saaremaa Food Festival is an exciting week-long program, the motto of which is “a happy eater also makes happy food”. Restaurants’ Week, which is part of the festival, offers delicious local treats at great prices. Tastings and promotions of the products of Saare County’s small producers will also take place. On Saturday, bring with you a picnic basket and take part in the street picnic in the center of Kuressaare. On the last day of the festival, the Apple Cafes’ Day will take place. For more information please email [email protected] or go to the event Facebook page.

September 10-16, 13th Tallinn Design Festival, various locations in Tallinn

Tallinn Design Festival demonstrates the achievements of designers from Estonia and other countries and starts discussions about the role of design in modern society. The theme of this year’s major design event is Human Cities. Designers, architects, urbanists, and planners are committed to ensuring a more sustainable and human-friendly urban environment. Insights and testimonials from other cities can be seen at exhibitions and the conference which mark the successful end of the four-year Europe-wide project “Human Cities – Challenging the City Scale”. The venues of the festival have been often neglected pearls of architecture. In the collectively composed festival program, one can find formats going deeper into the design world, cultural and entertaining events, and initiatives promoting design trade. Festival visitors can renew their design knowledge and experience design as a holistic discipline integrated into our everyday life with its aesthetics and human-centered processes and solutions. To find out full information on the festival please visit www.tallinndesignfestival.com 

September 22-23, Japanese Pop-Culture Festival AniMatsuri, Hugo Treffner Gymnasium, Tartu

AniMatsuri is a Japanese pop-culture festival being held for the tenth time and intended mainly for youngsters. Actually, AniMatsuri is a festival for those interested in the Japanese culture. The emphasis is on the Japanese pop culture – anime, manga (Japanese comic), music, video games, fashion, etc. This is a two-day festival organized and run by volunteers with the goal to bring together Japanese culture enthusiasts from Estonia, its neighbours, and even farther. Interesting lectures, exciting competitions, workshops, martial arts demonstrations and much more will take place. The main attraction is the cosplay contest taking place on the second day. The winner of one of the categories will fly to London for the European championship. The organizers are all fans of the Japanese culture and want to provide a safe and cozy place for others like them, be they just started anime fans or serious japanophiles.  The goal of AniMatsuri is to provide entertainment and fun activities to the awesome community without whom the festival would not be happening. Find out more at www.animatsuri.eu  

September 28-30, 8th Kihnu Violin Festival, Metsamaa Traditional Farm, Rootsiküla Village, Kihnu Parish, Pärnu County

The 8th Kihnu Violin Festival will be held from September 28-30. The festival brings together all the best violinists of Estonia and especially values the Kihnu tradition. As a result, new violinists emerge in Kihnu, the skills and style improve, and the knowledge about Kihnu violin playing traditions is widened. Attention is paid to both adults and youngsters, and everyone interested in folk culture is welcome. The festival is a great opportunity to spend time together for all age groups. One of the goals of the Violin Festival is to bring together violinists of Estonian folk music, who will conduct workshops to teach and introduce Kihnu children and others Kihnu repertoire, which will be possible mainly through dance evenings. More info can be found at www.kultuuriruum.ee 

LATVIA

August 29 – September 26, Street Food Festival, Kalnciema District, Riga

On Wednesdays don’t miss the opportunity to visit the Kalnciems Quarter for its weekly Street Food Festival, where it is possible to enjoy a variety of street food prepared by professionals and enthusiasts, while at the same time enjoying a glass of good wine and some music outdoors with family or friends. Fun activities for the little ones are also always organized. The festival is taking place from 18:00 to 23:00 every Wednesday.

Open till September 02, Exhibition “Music of Time. Clocks from the 17th to 20th Centuries”, Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, Riga

The exhibition will display many of the museum’s most unique and interesting clocks from its collection. The museum currently has 528 clocks in its collection from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The museum’s collection features a wide variety of different types of clocks and watches: sundials, desk clocks, standing clocks, pocket watches, wrist watches and many more. These pieces were made by watchmaking masters from Europe, America, Russia and elsewhere, as well as at workshops with already legendary names within the watchmaking industry. More information is available at www.rigamuz.lv

September 05-08, Riga Food Fair, Kipsala International Exposition Center, Riga

Everybody is welcome to the Riga Food fair to draw inspiration from a diversity of menu ideas, to taste new products as well as to see professional chef, pastry cook and bartender competitions. On the other hand, professionals are invited to derive ideas, knowledge and information for their further professional and business development. Full information on the fair and tickets can be found at www.rigafood.com 

September 06, LNOB Season Opening Concert, Latvian National Opera and Ballet, Riga

The season opening concert program will be divided into two parts: the first part is dedicated to ballet, and the second part – to opera. Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) soloists, as well as guest performers, will present a sneak-peek of the upcoming season, as well as perform the very best of previous seasons. To find out more please visit www.opera.lv 

September 07-21, Fermentation and Jewelry Art Exhibition, Putti Art Gallery, Riga

Fermentation in Jewelry (Gioielli in Fermento) is an international contemporary jewelry competition in Italy. The source of this project’s inspiration has its roots in the wine-making culture. As a metaphor for the fermentation process in wine, when a healthy, live element of nature – the grape – turns into a different form – wine, with a different taste, character and price, it is constructing a similar thinking about the process of creating contemporary jewelry: turning various materials into a special and industrial form – jewelry. There are four main provisions in this competition: the concept, materials, the type of artistic expression and technique. Wine-makers and jewelry artists use their creativity to express and display the provisions in a finished product. The entrance to the exhibition is free. Find out more at www.putti.lv 

September 08, Modern Arts Forum “White Night 2018”, Riga

Metaphorically speaking (in the Romantic languages), white nights mean “sleepless” nights, and this year, as usual in early September, you are cordially invited to join the crowd in experiencing a sleepless night chock full of surprises. The evening will be packed full of various contemporary art forms – concerts, installations and performances in the urban environment, exhibitions, multi-media projects, poetry readings, film screenings etc. Participating in the organization of the night will be various art galleries, cafes, art and cultural studios, as well as other active Riga residents and like-minded individuals. This year the festival’s theme will be connected with the centenary celebrations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, thus, the festival will emphasize the work of Baltic artists. The entrance is free of charge. Full program of events with detailed descriptions is available at www.baltanakts.lv.

September 21, Sinfonietta Riga Season Opening Concert, Great Guild, Riga

Chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga enjoys new discoveries just as much as it savours traditions, avidly looking for commonalities and pondering about musical lineages. The season opening concert brings us a musical pearl from Latvia, a reunion with a Finnish genius of contemporary music and a classical standard. Fierce passion, contrasting affects with a baroque glimmer and rhythmic vitality intertwine in Janis Ivanovs’ elegant masterpiece Sinfonietta. With his opus Joy Magnus Lindberg asserts his grand-master’s credit, engaging in an exuberant play with acoustic and electronic soundscapes, sweeping away the audience with the magnificent combinations. The soloist for Ludwig van Beethoven’s majestic and lyrical Piano Concerto No. 5 will be one of the most acclaimed pianists of our time, Yevgeny Sudbin. His performance has been compared to the volcanic power of Vladimir Horowitz. It is very likely that critic’s prediction will turn out to be true, and Sudbin will become one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century. The concert’s program and tickets are available at www.bilesuparadize.lv.

September 27, Orchestra Riga Season Opening Concert, Great Guild, Riga

This is the first performance of the second version of Andris Vecumnieks’ piece Concertino Art-i-Shock. Along with this opus, the concert program will include the first performance in Latvia of Rihards Dubra’s Divertissement No. 4, and the Zeppelin Symphony composed in 2008 by contemporary Austrian composer Thomas Doss. The Zeppelin Symphony in four parts reveals the history of the airship created more than 100 years ago, starting from the idea of its inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin up to the flight itself. The concert’s program is available at www.orkestris.riga.lv and tickets can be bought online via www.bilesuparadize.lv website.

LITHUANIA 

September 08-09, NowJapan 2018, Old Town, Vilnius

Let’s go on an unforgettable weekend trip to exotic Japan at the largest Japanese cultural festival in the Baltic region – NowJapan – held on 8-9th of September. A true Japan’s cultural beacon in Lithuania presents nowadays Japan: the fusion of vibrant pop culture, millennial traditions and innovative contemporary ideas. During the two-day trip you will have an opportunity to witness a great variety of musical, audio-visual and dance performances, fashion shows, exhibitions by the Japanese artists, get acquainted with Japanese cinema and animation, try out creative workshops of Japanese arts and crafts, make yourself a souvenir, engage in discussions with public figures about their experiences in Japan, attend talks covering all sides of Japan. Get overwhelmed by the diversity of goods at the expo area and allow yourself to be seduced by the smells of Asian food while snacking and resting in the Tokyo Town area outdoors. Vibrant international cosplay competition will completely blow your mind enabling you to witness your favorite characters from movies, video games, comics, etc. appearing on stage. To sum up, from tea ceremony to post-apocalyptic Hello Kitty fashion – there will be a lot of good stuff going on. The price is EUR 11. Full program and other information on the is available at www.nowjapan.lt  

September 14-16, Nation’s Fair 2018, Old Town, Vilnius

From 14th to 16th September Nations’ Fair will take place in Gediminas Avenue in Vilnius. The most active masters of crafts and culinary of national communities as well as virtuosos of songs and dances will come to the Fair. During the Fair locals and city guests will have an opportunity to take a look at national handmade pieces of work, they will be introduced to traditional dishes of various nations as well as the subtleties of the way to prepare them and a great variety of recipes. As in every festival, Nations’ Fair will abound in music, entertainment and festive buzz. The entrance is free for everyone. Find out more at www.tautumuge.lt 

September 15-16, Comic Con Baltics, Exhibition and Convention Center Litexpo, Vilnius 

Comic Con Baltics is the biggest pop culture event in the Baltic States where the heroes meet. The latest and hottest news from the cinema industry, TV series, new technologies and computer games will be presented during the event. As in other Comic Cons, that are happening in other countries, the attendees of Comic Con Baltics will have the unique possibility to meet and greet their favorite movie and TV stars. Special previews from the up-coming movies and TV projects, computer games, special featurettes and trailers, prepared just for Comic Con Baltics will be available during the event. Every attendee will be able to see the daily life of a movie maker, to know how a film set looks like, to sit in a make-up chair or see a performance by a stuntman. Visitors will also see the biggest cosplay championship. Also, it will be possible to visit an interactive zone of new technologies and game zone, to see the newest of games and remember and play some old school computer games. Besides that, everyone will be able to see and feel what was never in Lithuania – unconventional, unique cinema halls that will bring up absolutely different experiences of motion capture cinema. Most importantly, everybody will have their chance to meet the heroes from their childhood or just a popular actor from cinema or TV series, get their autograph and seize the moment with the star in a professionally done photographs. For more information please go to www.ccbaltics.com 

September 20-30, Vilnius Documentary Film Festival, various cinemas in Vilnius 

Vilnius Documentary Film Festival (VDFF) is an international documentary film festival launched in 2004 in Lithuania, and is the main documentary film platform in the Baltics. The festival has continually supported the diversity of documentary films by composing rich and captivating program. Each year the main and special festival programs show the most recent internationally awarded documentaries while a retrospective is dedicated to an acknowledged filmmaker. The best Baltic documentary film award is also organized during the festival. It is a platform for documentary film production from the Baltic states and is announced by an international jury. The festival has always been searching for a dialogue with its audience; therefore various discussions are organized to bring the spectators together with the film-makers and to raise awareness of the fascinating possibilities of the documentary film genre. The program and more information is available at www.vdff.lt