On Saturday, 22 July, Ķengarags park will host the first Riga neighbourhood festival this summer, where everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy an extensive cultural programme, explore the neighbourhood and enjoy lovely concerts. This summer, Riga neighbourhood festivals will be held in ten neighbourhoods.
This year, the neighbourhood festivals will be celebrated more extensively than last year — there will be various concerts, creative and educational activities in ten Riga neighbourhoods: Ķengarags, Čiekurkalns, Zolitūde, Dreiliņkalns, Ziepniekkalns, Jugla, Torņakalns, Centrs, as well as in the vicinity of Daugavgrīva, Brasa and Vecāķi.
Ķengarags neighbourhood festivals
The first neighbourhood festival will take place on Saturday, 22 July, in Ķengarags park, where Riga residents and city guests are invited to take part in creative workshops, to visit the "quarter" of neighbourhood associations and businesses, to explore the neighbourhood in the "educational quarter" and to enjoy a variety of concerts and theatre performances throughout the day.
Creative workshops will be based on cognition, discovery and rediscovery – it will be possible to make your own musical instrument and toy, paint dishes, play mini golf and other sports games, as well as get to know the position of pilots. During the event, you will be able to get to know the various companies and organizations operating in Ķengarags, as well as the history and development perspectives of the neighbourhood through games, tours and QR codes.
At 12:00 the Ķengarags festival cultural programme will be opened by a musical play for children "Fairy Tale Guardians". An open-air theatre performance "The Big Catch" will follow at 14:00, and at 16:00 the band "Dzels vilks" will perform. At 18:00 you will be able to enjoy the rhythms of Ķengarags with the band "Riga Reggae". At 20:00 the concert of the band "Mother" will start, which will be continued at 22:00 with the performance of Žoržs Siksna and his accompanying band. A brass quartet will perform between musical performances throughout the day.
Neighbourhood festivals will take place in the capital until 26 August, the next ones will take place on 29 July in Zolitūde and Čiekurkalns.
Events of the Riga Summer Culture Programme this week
This week, Riga's Summer of Courage and Joy cultural programme will delight Riga residents and city guests with a variety of events — a variety of concerts and creative and artistic workshops.
On Thursday, 20 July, at 14:00 in Brīvības Square and at 16:00 in Ķengarags market, opera diva Sonora Vaice and the cello trio "Melo-M" will delight with an exclusive and prestigious concert programme. At the entrance to Mežaparks at the junction of Meža prospekts and Kokneses prospekts at 16:00, a musical entertainment event "Riga Stained Glass" will take place, featuring the brass quintet BRASS.EDU together with percussionist Normunds Everts and accordionist Artūrs Noviks. Juris Kaukulis, the lead singer of "Dzelzs vilks", will perform a solo concert at the cultural space "Hive" in Ķengarags at 20:00, and the post-folklore band "Iļģi" and the Riga Dance Club will perform in Vērmanes park at 20:00. Mareks Ameriks (Jersika Records) will open the evening at Kalnciema quarter with his best vinyl record selection, and at 21:00 the jazz band "Lupa" will perform.
On Friday, 21 July, at 18:00 the "Summer of Co-creation at Āgenskalns market" will present Slavic folk singing and a Ukrainian dinner, which will highlight the heritage of Slavic people, and will be dedicated to both traditional culture and various contemporary expressions of contemporary culture. At 20:30 in the garden of the Sports Palace, the three-year concert programme will be completed by the artists of the Latvian Radio Choir under the direction of Sigvards Kļava. The programme will include elements of Gregorian chant music blended with improvisations by percussionist Miks Čavarts and contemporary vocal music by composers John Cage, Žibokle Martinaitīte, Arvo Pärt and Santa Ratniece.
On Saturday, 22 July, at 17:00 the open-air stage of the Pāvuls Jurjāns Music School will host a big soap bubble show and a Riga Cathedral Choir School concert.
On Sunday, 23 July, at 20:00 from the balcony of Riga Town Hall, Riga residents and city guests will be entertained by concerts by the Riga Sackbut Consort (Vairis Nartišs – sackbut, alphorn; Kaspars Majors – sackbut; Pēteris Vaickovskis – sackbut; Kaspars Šmits – cimbasso). Since 1998, the music of the Old Town Towers has been an integral part of the culture of Riga. This tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, when town halls in European cities were patrolled by specially hired brass players.
All the summer cultural events in Riga, organised by the local government, are available on the website https://vasara.riga.lv/, and followed on the social network page “What’s on in Riga”.
Information was prepared by: Līva Sila, External Communication Division of Riga City Council.
More information: Sindija Grāvere, Project Coordinator External Communication Division of Riga City Council, e-mail: sindija.gravere@riga.lv