Event Guide

ESTONIA

February 01-02, 6th Jew’s Harp Festival, various venues in Tallinn

The 6th Jew’s Harp Festival will be held in Tallinn on February 1 and 2. Both new and old jew’s harp enthusiasts are welcome. There will be workshops for beginners and advanced students, concerts and dance nights, and a fair where instruments, records and study materials can be bought. This year's main performer and guru Erkin Alekseev comes directly from Yakutia. Other instructors are Juhan Suits, Katariin Raska and others. The festival begins with a concert at the Old Town Music House on the 1st of February, where all teachers will perform. The program includes both solo and ensemble play. Serious studying will take place on February 2 at the Club of Different Rooms and it will be finished with an open stage and a dance club where you can dance accompanied only by the sound of jew’s harp. To learn more and to buy tickets please visit www.piletilevi.ee 

February 01-28, Tasty Tartu 2019, various restaurants in Tartu

Tasty Tartu 2019 is a campaign of taste experiences, which will be taking place in Tartu for the 5th time. Only in February, you can enjoy new food experiences by trying the affordable special three-course menus of the 14 restaurants that are developing these in addition to their ordinary menus to celebrate this month. The special menus are available for the set price of 21 euros and they consist of three courses. The chefs of the restaurants that participate in the campaign give their best to surprise the city’s locals and guests with delicious and enjoyable special dishes. As many local ingredients as possible are used to make the food. You can see the menus and read about the restaurants on the event’s official website www.maitsevtartu.ee 

Open till February 02, Kaisa Maasik’s Personal Exhibition ‘Your Love Hurts’, Gallery Draakon, Tallinn

‘Your Love Hurts’ uses stories from Estonian people to talk about domestic and intimate partner violence. The gallery has become a shared installation space where the audience can reflect upon their own experiences. Kaisa Maasik: “It is difficult to admit that somebody whom you love and who loves you, in turn, has hurt you in the past or is doing it currently. Even if they don’t mean to. At the present exhibition, anonymous family members talk about their experiences and viewers can record their own stories. Many of these come from childhood: children don’t know what is right but they feel when something is wrong. They intervene and admit what’s going on.” The exhibition will remain open until February 2, 2019. To find out more please go to www.eaa.ee/draakon/ 

January 30 – February 03, DocPoint Tallinn Documentary Film Festival, Tallinn

At the end of January, DocPoint Tallinn Festival, which focuses on documentaries, is taking place in Tallinn for the tenth time. The festival takes place in cooperation with the Helsinki DocPoint Festival, one of the most important documentary film events in the Nordic region. Detailed information on the festival can be found at www.docpoint.ee 

February 15-17, 17th Student Theatre Days, Viljandi County, Viljandi

Student Theatre Days is a festival dedicated to the activities of Estonian student theaters and amateur groups. The festival is organized by the students of the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. The festival will be held on the third weekend in February in Viljandi. The participants are students’ amateur groups from Estonia and abroad. The entrance is free. For more information please visit the festival’s Facebook page. 

Open till February 23, Kaarel Kurismaa’s Exhibition ‘Yellow Light Orchestra’, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

The largest-ever retrospective of the pioneer of Estonian kinetic and sound art looks at Kaarel Kurismaa’s oeuvre in its diverse entirety. You can see light and sound installations, animated films and objects created for public spaces. For more info please visit www.kumu.ekm.ee 

February 23, Made in Estonia Festival 2019, Tallinn Creative Hub, Tallinn

On the eve of the 101st anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, Estonia’s best electronic music producers and DJs will gather to the two halls in the capital’s most popular venue, the Cultural Hub, to perform at the Made in Estonia indoor festival. More details can be found on the event’s Facebook page. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketer.ee 

LATVIA

February 04, Concert by Gurdjieff Ensemble (Armenia), VEF Culture Palace, Riga

The internationally acclaimed Gurdjieff Ensemble was founded by Levon Eskenian to play ethnographically authentic arrangements of the G.I. Gurdjieff/Thomas de Hartmann piano music. The Ensemble consists of leading musicians playing Armenian and Middle Eastern traditional instruments. For full information on the concert and to buy tickets please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv

Open till February 05, Contemporary Jewelry Exhibition ‘Snowing a Little Out the Window’, Putti Art Gallery, Riga

Silence, moments, emotions, bright elements, varied stones, the freedom of color and modern forms – this winter exhibition is dedicated to making the loved ones happy during the holiday season together with contemporary art. It serves as a source of inspiration during the cold season, hopefully one with some snow outside the window. Participating in the exhibition are Latvian and international jewelry artists. The entrance to the exhibition is free of charge. To learn more please go to www.putti.lv 

Open till February 09, Exhibition by Biruta Delle ‘Who Is the Odd One Out in the Olive Garden?’, Gallery Daugava, Riga

The name of Biruta Delle’s exhibition Who Is the Odd One Out in the Olive Garden? stems from one of her 1977 paintings. The exhibition features many of her pieces, allowing the visitor to view how Delle’s artistic style has changed over the decades. Delle completely relies on her subconsciousness in her paintings, grasping and putting on canvas that which she is given by this mysterious world which is a part of us all, but not all of us are capable of finding a path in it. Delle has always relied on this, as her subconscious is where she finds her artistic essence. The recluse, always looking for something, never understood and frequently unaccepted. To learn more please visit www.galerijadaugava.lv 

February 09, Grand Concert of Latvian Symphonic Music, Great Guild, Riga

This is a great opportunity to get to know the symphonic music of Latvian composers. Every year the most famous works, as well as premieres of Latvian composers, are performed at the concert by highly professional orchestras. This year there will be the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gintars Rinkevics, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (conductor Andris Poga), soloist Kristine Blaumane (cello) and percussionists. To find out more about the concert program please visit www.latvijaskoncerti.lv and buy tickets online please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv 

Open till February 10, ‘The Tree of Life’, Solo Exhibition by Natalija Malikova, City Museum, Jurmala

The artist calls herself a propagandist of beauty, emphasizing that in today’s world full of negativity it is important to gain experience in aesthetics. In the purest form, beauty is revealed in the lines of the human body, graciousness and proportional harmony. The entrance to the exhibition is free of charge. For more information please go to www.visitjurmala.lv 

Open till February 10, ‘Blamescapes and Superflattenings’, Solo Exhibition by Mikelis Fisers, Art Station Dubulti, Jurmala

This exhibition by Mikelis Fisers is the artist’s first, which has been organized after his participation in the Venice Biennale in 2017 and all of the works featured in the exhibition will be displayed for the first time ever. The exhibition is a collection of the artist’s monumental, clever and ironic work, full of self-criticism, but full of stories especially associated with Latvia’s centenary. Mikelis Fisers creates pieces about us – about people, about society and about customs. The entrance to the exhibition is free of charge. 

February 15-24, International Saxophone Music Festival ‘Saxophonia’, various venues in Riga

The International Saxophone Music Festival Saxophonia offers music lovers an exciting series of concerts, which, as you can tell by the name, features bright and shiny yellow instrument invented in the mid 1800s – the saxophone. The festival is held every other year at the best Riga concert venues and gathers saxophone stars from Latvia and around the world. To find out more about the concert program please visit www.latvijaskoncerti.lv and buy tickets online please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv 

February 23, Concert by Sinfonietta Riga, Great Guild, Riga

Listening to Sebastian Fagerlund’s symphonic music is like taking a long hike along Nordic nature trails or a breathtaking ride down from a rocky mountain while remaining in the safety of a concert hall chair. The Finnish composer is a master of large orchestral works, and the performance of his Clarinet Concerto is especially anticipated – the soloist will be the excellent Guntis Kuzma who is renowned for his flawless proficiency with the instrument and deep immersion in the music. Symphonic scope and heated musical character can be also ascribed to Richard Strauss’ timeless Metamorphosen, written in the war-scorched Europe. Along with these German and Finnish masters – a new work from the Latvian composer Ruta Paidere – addition to the ever-growing collection of chamber symphonies, commissioned by Normunds Sne and Sinfonietta Riga. To find out more about the concert program please visit www.latvijaskoncerti.lv and buy tickets online please go to www.bilesuparadize.lv 

LITHUANIA 

February 01, Birthday of the Orchestra, Congress Hall, Vilnius

After 30 years, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra has become a symbol of the highest artistic level and skill, a symbol of new ideas and courage. Therefore, the birthday of the orchestra is a holiday for everyone who loves and appreciates music. This evening, to greet the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the most famous Lithuanian opera soloists will arrive to Vilnius Congress Hall: Irena Milkevičiūtė and Vladimiras Prudnikovas, who sang at the first concert of the orchestra, as well as young stars Hasmik Grigoryan, Edgaras Montvydas and Kostas Smoriginas. Tickets can be purchased online at www.teatrai.lt and www.tiketa.lt 

February 03, Concert by Vilnius String Quartet and Ugnius Pauliukonis, Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Vilnius

In addition to fundamental concert series, the Vilnius String Quartet, a recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize, Baltic Assembly Prize and a number of other coveted awards, nurtures the tradition Young Lithuanian Talents and Vilnius String Quartet. This time the Quartet shares the stage with talented pianist Ugnius Pauliukonis. He has won a number of important international competitions such as gold medal in the RNCM, silver medal for mastery in Worshipful Musicians Company, and Great Britain Young Musician’s award Making Music UK P&DG 2018. In Lithuania he appeared and earned acclaim with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and his own piano quartet Confero, took part in St. Christopher Summer Festival, and Sugrįžimai Festival among many others. In May 2018, he made his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The concert program features Czech music coryphée Antonín Dvořák’s chamber works included into the world’s golden treasury of music, revealing the symbiosis of romanticist lyric and drama, but also an idiosyncratic color of Moravian and Bohemian folklore. The tickets cost EUR 5-7 and can be purchased at the box offices of the Philharmonic Society.

February 12, Symphony of Generations, Town Hall, Vilnius

Just imagine: in the symphony, the part of the harp is replaced by kanklės (Lithuanian stringed instrument) and instead of flutes and oboe you can hear Lithuanian lumzdeliai (a kind of whistle) playing and violins and wind instruments are replaced by another folk instrument – birbynės, while organ, which is played in recitations is replaced by the skudučiai (a form of a panpipe). You are kindly invited to Vilnius Town Hall on the 12th of February to get assured of how uniquely the works of Bach, Mozart and Britten sound. The orchestra of the Lithuanian State Song and Dance Ensemble ‘Lietuva’ will present a concert of classical music with national instruments ‘The Symphony of Generations’. For more information please go to www.ansamblis-lietuva.lt Tickets can be purchased online at www.bilietai.lt 

February 20, ‘The Queen of Spades’, Opera by P. Tchaikovsky, Congress Hall, Vilnius

The most ingenious Russian composer of all times, P. Tchaikovsky, very intensively participated in writing the libretto for the opera and deepening the plot. The strongest artistic forces of Vilnius City Opera invite everyone to rediscover the work, which has already become a classic masterpiece, at the latest premiere. Tickets can be purchased online at www.tiketa.lt 

February 21, ‘Welcome’, Concert by Jazzu, Siemens Arena, Vilnius

The singer promises that at her concerts fans will hear not only the songs from the new albums, but also the best songs of recent times. The ‘Welcome’ tour is not only the name of one of the songs from the new album, but also a very sincere Jazzu’s invitation of listeners to visit her world. The stage occupies a special place for half of the performer’s life. Tickets can be purchased online at www.tiketa.lt 

February 21-24, Vilnius Book Fair 2019, Exhibition and Convention Center Litexpo, Vilnius

Next year the international Vilnius Book Fair will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Held on February 21-24, 2019, with the slogan ‘20 years after’ the Fair will invite the exhibitors, guests and visitors to celebrate and evaluate the changes that happened in the life of literature, and to discuss what will come next. Since its start in the year of 2000, the International Vilnius Book Fair is the biggest and most important book fair in the Baltic States. It gives a possibility to evaluate the whole publishing market of Lithuania and the neighboring countries. At the same time it has become the well-known cultural event in Lithuania and the main annual meeting place of publishers, authors and readers that attracts more than 60,000 visitors. The Fair is visited by the stars of the literary and culture from all over the world. Vilnius Book Fair is always dynamic, active and forward-looking. It’s like an adventure story full of life, inspiring those in their twenties and those who were twenty years old 20 years ago. To learn more and to buy tickets please visit www.litexpo.lt