Event Guide

ESTONIA

May 02-10, Estonian Music Days & ISCM World New Music Days, various venues in Tallinn

The World Music Days festival introduces and promotes contemporary classical music around the world. In 2019, Estonia has the honour of hosting the festival for the first time. 

The festival hosts hundreds of professional musicians and presents the freshest and most exciting new music in 2019, including music performed by groups of different sizes and nature, soloists presenting different instruments, as well as sounds from different acoustical and electronic sources. While the festival hosts composers from all over the world, it focuses on the music of the hosting country. This offers an opportunity to composers and music event organizers coming from all over the world to get acquainted with the local music. At the same time, the local audience can get acquainted with the new music trends taking over the world and understand the role and speciality of their music. Venues vary from black boxes to concert halls with capacity of 200–900, including also art galleries and museums, public spaces and places for site specific art. For more information on the festival please visit www.worldmusicdays2019.ee  

May 03-04, XX Estonian Folk Music Arrangements Festival, Mooste Manor, Pôlva County

The Estonian Folk Music Industry Festival will revive the country’s folk music through a range of modern musical projects. The vocal and instrumental talents of performers (as well as their imagination and technical skills) will be put to the test in a competitive concert. The event is designed to promote and foster Estonian folk music as a part of the musical culture of the country, creating ties between old and new that never let us forget our roots. For additional information please visit www.moostefolk.ee, call +372  5900 6830 or email [email protected] 

May 03-04, Tallinn Craft Beer Weekend, Tallinn Creative Hub, Tallinn

Tallinn Craft Beer Weekend, the largest international craft beer event in the Baltic region, will have its 5th edition in 2019. The lineup will include close to 50 world class breweries from all over the globe. The official information on the event is available at www.tcbw.ee and on Facebook.

May 18, Tallinn Whisky Show, Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel, Tallinn

Tallinn Whisky Show is a day filled with excellent drinks, new knowledge, delicious food and entertainment. The biggest whisky event in Estonia, now on its 3rd year, brings together whisky lovers and professionals, as well as those who want to learn about this fine drink for the very first time. It offers a chance to taste a wide selection of whiskies from all over the world, including a number of travel retail exclusive whiskies, as well as whisky cocktails and other drinks, take part in seminars and masterclasses, enjoy some delicious street food and quality entertainment, and, most importantly, have a great time with friends and like-minded people. Tasting of whiskies in included in ticket price. Tickets can be purchased at www.piletilevi.ee More information on the event can be found at www.whiskyshow.ee or on Facebook.

May 18, Museum Night Estonia 2019, museums throughout Estonia

On Saturday, 18th of May 2019, Estonian museums will open their doors for visitors for a night full of special events and exhibitions, celebrating the Night of Museums. In 2019, the much-loved Museum Night will take place under an umbrella theme of ‘Night of Patterns’ – exploring the patterns around us in culture, society, nature, etc. Everyone is welcome to the biggest museum party in Estonia!  Around 200 different museums, art galleries, manor houses and other organisations are expected to open their doors for the 5-hour long event. The museums participating in the program will open their doors from 6pm to 11pm, and during this time the entrance will be free. Full information can be found on the event’s official page www.muuseumioo.ee and in social networks.

May 22-26, Literature Festival HeadRead, Estonian Writers Union, Tallinn

Tallinn Literature Festival HeadRead is an event to celebrate literature and provide an overview of what is currently happening in Estonian literature and in the world. The festival is small, but perfect. The festival, organised by writers, publishers, and translators, is a party, a conversation, and pure joy in this city that welcomes exciting writers from all over the world. All events are free, except for the poetry mass at the St Nicholas’ Church, where the museum ticket applies, and film screenings. For more information on the festival, schedule and more please visit www.headread.ee

May 23-26, International Visual Theatre Festival NuQ Tref, various venues in Tallinn

Tallinn Treff Festival is an international visual theatre festival that focuses on introducing and popularising modern art dolls, keeping and carrying on traditions, and surprising with forms of theatre that people were not even aware of yet. You can see freshly released visual theatre pieces, which are very unique. Language is not a barrier and the selection includes something for children, the young, and adults. For more information on the festival, program and more please visit www.nuku.ee 

 

LATVIA

May 17, Season Closing Concert by Sinfonietta Riga, Great Guild, Riga

Led by conductor Normunds Sne, Sinfonietta Riga closes the season with Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony and Second Piano Concerto. This most uplifting and lightest of Brahms’ symphonies has also been dubbed the Pastoral Symphony. Along with it, the imposing, magnificent Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring Argentinian soloist Nelson Goerner. To learn more please visit www.latvijaskoncerti.lv and to buy tickets online please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv

Open till May 18, Roberts Kolcovs’ Exhibition ‘In Anticipation of the Grasshopper’s Song’, Putti Art Gallery, Riga

The centerpiece of the exhibition is composed of four paintings – the cycle of a Lemon. There will also be a ceramic statue of a girl on display and a number of small-size paintings, in which Kolcov’s trust is seen in the same way as in his clear eyes, where neither pain nor frustration can be seen. Graphic artist Roberts Kolcovs has created illustrations for books and press publications, and is the author of paintings of many public spaces and private houses. The artist’s works are in private collections in Latvia and all around the world. The entrance to the exhibition is free. For additional information please go to www.putti.lv 

May 22-26, Beer Festival Latviabeerfest 2019, Vermanes Garden Park, Riga

Latvians are well known for their beer brewing traditions. The international beer festival Latviabeerfest 2019 will be held for five days at Vērmanes Park in downtown Riga, where beer lovers will be able to try a wide variety of local and foreign beers, enjoy traditional Latvian cuisine, as well as get acquainted with and purchase items made by local craftsmen and food producers. To learn about entrance fees, opening hours and more please visit the festival’s official webpage www.latviabeerfest.lv 

May 25, Jurmala Resort Festival 2019, Jomas Street, Jurmala

Jurmala Resort Festival is a very special celebration, marking the beginning of the summer season in the largest resort town of the Baltics. Jurmala Town Council and local residents have prepared a number of spectacular events for all the visitors. The entrance is free. Learn more at www.visitjurmala.lv 

May 26, Concert by Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Great Guild, Riga

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA, which celebrated its 80th anniversary last season, maintains a varied repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque and the Classical periods through the Romantic period, extending to contemporary composers, many of whom have received their Israeli premières. For concert program please visit www.latvijaskoncerti.lv and to buy tickets online please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv

May 31 – June 02, Sigulda Town Festival 2019, Festivity Square, Sigulda

The Sigulda Town Festival will ring in the summer season with an extensive program of outdoor activities and events. The festival program includes many fun events - the traditional festival procession, concerts, as well as activities for the children. The entrance is free.  Learn more at www.tourism.sigulda.lv 

 

LITHUANIA 

May 02-12, International Contemporary Dance Festival New Baltic Dance’19, various venues in Vilnius

International Contemporary Dance Festival “New Baltic Dance”; during 20 years of its existence has grown up into one of the main and most prestigious dance festivals in the Baltic Sea region. It is organized by Lithuanian Dance Information Centre and Vilnius Festivals. Stay in the loop of national and global dance trends. You’re in for a bunch of surprising performances and experiments by amateur dancers, as well as renowned works of more established dance artists. The festival is a great opportunity to explore the limits of the human body, the hottest dance trends, and unexpected ideas. More information can be found at www.newbalticdance.lt 

May 03-04, Wine Exhibition Vyno Dienos, Exhibition and Convention Center Litexpo, Vilnius

The wine exhibition Vyno Dienos is the biggest wine and spirits event in the Nordics, where professionals meet other professionals and final consumers. Wine and spirits producers, international importers, gourmet representatives, companies that make glass and wine accessories come together for two days to enjoy the company and attention of more than 3,800 visitors that are interested in the products. This is the right time, the right place and right target audience (sommeliers, wine importers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, fine wine lovers, wine, food and life journalists etc.) for professional wine lecturers, experts and writers to spread the most up-to-date information about wine and to guide various tastings on the different subjects. For full exhibition program and other useful information please visit www.vynodienos.lt 

May 06-11, XX International University Theatre Forum 2019, various venues in Vilnius

International University Theatre Forum in Vilnius is a unique youth event of this kind organized in the Baltic countries. It summons students that are interested in theatre for interactive theatrical performances and aims to bring social and heritage questions to public attention, also giving the possibility to get to know each other, to interact and exchange experience. The entrance is free. Learn more at www.teatraspalepe.lt/forumas/ 

May 06-12, Design Week 2019, various venues in Vilnius

Keep an eye out for ink blue – it’s the colour of the Design Week, where original ideas and professional solutions go hand-in-hand with functionality and useful information. Take part in creative workshops, visit design exhibitions, participate in the conference, and get acquainted with the work of Lithuanian designers. This year’s theme explores progress and highlights recent achievements and innovations. The entrance is free. For more information please visit www.dizainosavaite.lt 

Open till May 10, Adomas Danusevičius’ Solo Exhibition ‘Mud and Flowers’, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius

Vartai Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the young generation painter Adomas Danusevičius. For over a decade, the artist’s name has occupied a special place on the Lithuanian art scene because of the sexual identity issues he addresses and the queer aesthetic central to his work. Mud and flowers are universally perceived mythical images ingrained in humanity’s bodily memory like plant seeds or mushroom spores buried in soil. When watered, the roots of life pulsate and thrive in the mud. It was out of mud – formless and lowly – that the gods moulded humans to populate the Earth and struggle with their nature. It is precisely the ‘metaphysics of mud’ that opens the gates to the primeval hybridity of life, the unquenchable desire to change, procreate, occupy new territories, and rule through the capricious play of the cosmic Eros. The creative and destructive primal energy in Adomas Danusevičius works mutates and flirts playfully, sometimes taking us the viewers to the underground quagmire of the subconscious and at other times submerging us into heady hallucinations of blossoms. Social and gender identities intermix, coalesce, and again transform into formless matter bursting with endless potential. The recurring nature motifs are vibrant, charming, enigmatic, and simultaneously sexually ambivalent, flirting with the viewer’s senses. The entrance to the exhibition is free. Detailed information is available at www.galerijavartai.lt 

May 11-12, International Dance Competition ‘Dance Revolution 2019’, Concert Hall Compensa, Vilnius

Dance contest ‘Dance Revolution’ takes place for the 10th time. The number of participants is increasing every year and more and more dance groups from abroad (i.e. Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Russia and Poland) are joining the festival. The competition is growing not only in the number of participants, but also the new dance styles and age categories. This year it intends to introduce more dance categories, and everyone is welcome to take part. More information can be found at www.dancerevolution.lt and tickets can be purchased online at www.bilietai.lt 

May 12-26, International Festival ‘Poetry Spring’, various venues in Vilnius 

For 15 festival days, more than 150 various events take place: poetry readings, the evening of the ‘Poetry Spring’ laureates, author evenings of outstanding poets, readings of young authors of the performing poetry evening, student readings, poetic performances, evenings of the festival guests, evenings, designed to commemorate classics of Lithuanian literature and famous poets, poetic-musical improvisations, parties, opening exhibitions, etc. Festival events attract not only Lithuanian, but also foreign listeners (from countries, where there are large Lithuanian communities). The annual international conference of poets and critics is held, where current topics from the world of literature are discussed. The entrance is free. Learn more at www.rasytojai.lt 

May 18, Street Music Day 2019, various venues in Vilnius

Street Music Day is traditionally organized on the third Saturday of May. It’s a day when professional musicians and amateurs come out to perform in the streets, courtyards and squares of Vilnius. They play rock, classical music, jazz, avant-garde, folklore, African rhythms, give various music-related performances with various musical instruments (even heaters). Other street art movements also join the music. The Street Music Day team has a big dream to make it a celebration of music, street culture, community and creative freedom. Come join! The entrance is free. For more information please visit www.gmd.lt