The biggest events, festivals and concerts in Latvia in 2025
Every year, Latvia hosts events that attract both local and international visitors, offering unique opportunities to enjoy various musical genres, unforgettable performances and events. Are you ready to discover new talents, experience magnificent shows and meet people who are also fascinated by everything creative? Enter this world of sensations, where each event promises to leave a mark on you for a lifetime.
APRIL
As spring warms up, we invite you to enjoy events taking place in Riga’s unusual and characteristic spaces. One of these is the international short film festival “2ANNAS”. This year, the festival will take place for the 29th time from 4 to 10 April and will offer viewers original, innovative, challenging and socially significant short films and medium-length films. The festival “2ANNAS” extols the virtues of the short film format as a purposeful choice, resulting in the creation of high-quality artwork.
Every visitor will enjoy the spring mood and ancient aura at the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, where thematic fairs are held four times a year. In parallel with the celebration of Easter with songs, dances, and egg rolling, an Easter fair will be held on April 20, bringing together craftsmen and sellers of home-made products from all over Latvia. The Folk Applied Art Fair will be held on 7 and 8 June 2025. The Modern Crafts Fair will be held on 6 and 7 September 2025. The final Michaelmas fair of the year will be held on 27 September.
MAY
“Museum Night” is an international event that is worth staying awake and taking to the streets for. This year, “Museum Night” will take place on 17 May for the 21st time. The theme of this year’s event is “Stories of Our Values,” which has been chosen to encourage state, municipal, and private museums, as well as other activists in public life, to share the most important values in their collections and tell the public about them.
The joy of Latvian singing is worth experiencing for every guest when they visit the “Big Concert” on 31 May. For the fourth year in a row, the most popular Latvian music stars from various genres will meet on one stage – both pop icons and classical music professionals, who, together with the audience, will create an unforgettable celebration of popular music. The centrepiece of the concert will be the largest audience choir in Latvia, which together with the artists will create a unique sound.
JUNE
Classical music lovers are invited to the Riga Opera Festival, which will take place from 1 to 20 June. The festival programme includes new opera and ballet productions, as well as excellent performances from previous seasons. The festival culminates in a grand Gala Concert. It will feature such brilliant singers as Lithuanian opera star Vida Miknevičūtė, Ludmila Monastirska, Iraklijs Kahidze, as well as internationally recognised Latvian soloists Zanda Švēde and Aleksandrs Antoņenko. This concert will mark the first time that the Armenian tenor Liparits Avetisjan, who is currently extremely sought after in the world, will perform on the stage of the Latvian National Opera.
On 12 and 13 June, the first-ever alternative culture festival “Ecosystemic” will take place in Riga, at the Mežaparks Big Stage. It is dedicated to the ecosystem of alternative art and culture, highlighting its development and interaction with the environment. The festival will have a rich programme with lesser-known art forms. You will be able to enjoy alternative music from nine countries, contemporary shows and performances, as well as creative activities to explore the diversity of alternative culture.
The international folklore festival “Baltica” will take place from 26 to 29 June, the theme of which this year will be language. Concerts, dances, master classes and other events will be held in Riga, Sigulda region and Daugavpils, bringing together folklore groups, ethnographic groups, craftsmen, storytellers and other keepers of living cultural heritage from the Baltic region, as well as guests from Peru and Ukraine. The festival has been taking place since 1987, and each time it takes place in a different Baltic country.
JULY
The rock music festival “Saldus Saule” is the oldest rock festival in Latvia. Every year it gathers thousands of visitors in Saldus, offering performances by outstanding Latvian artists and an unforgettable atmosphere. This festival is an important Latvian music tradition, which gains new scope every year – new musicians, new adventures, as well as the feeling of celebrating music, summer and life, which is well known to all “Saldus Saule” participants. See you on 26–27 July!
The piano concert “Jūrmala Festival: Three Osokins” will take place on July 15. The outstanding virtuoso pianists, a father and two sons – the Osokins – will allow you to enjoy one of the concert programmes, which is a real celebration for piano music lovers. The Osokins' joint concerts are events with a carefully crafted message, which always feature world-renowned piano masterpieces and classical music masterpieces adapted for playing on several pianos, preserving the original sound and musical structure.
This summer, Riga will be resounding with an ambitious event that can only be experienced once every five years – the “Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival” – which will begin with events at the end of May and continue until 13 July. The event will bring together thousands of singers from choirs and vocal ensembles, dancers from folk and contemporary dance groups, brass bands and symphony orchestras, as well as folklore groups and folk music ensembles, accordionists, young artists and actors from Latvia and the diaspora.
The Saulkrasti Jazz Festival “Saulkrasti Jazz” will gather listeners on 18 and 19 July in the resort town of Saulkrasti. Thanks to its supporters and organisers, the Saulkrasti Jazz festival has been held since 1997 and has gained wide recognition and popularity both in Latvia and abroad. The festival is known for its creativity, educational opportunities, high quality of the event and outstanding performers.
An integral part of summer culture and festivals in Latvia is the “International Opera Festival in Sigulda”, which will take place for the thirty-second time this summer. This year, the event will take place from 25 July to 3 August. The festival organisers emphasise that the uniqueness of the event lies in the fact that every year, for only 2–3 weeks, an opera performance is staged, specially adapted to the picturesque and historical ruins of Sigulda Castle. The Sigulda Opera Festival is a special treat for the heart and soul with warm sunset evenings, picturesque nature and excellent music!
AUGUST
On 1 and 2 August, the popular music festival “Summer Sound” will take place in Liepāja for the thirteenth time. It has become the largest festival in Latvia and one of the most important summer outdoor events in the Baltics, offering a wide range of music and entertainment programmes. Over the course of two days, festival visitors can enjoy concerts by more than 70 local and international artists, participate in various attractions and shows, and relax on one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe!
Latvia and Riga have been chosen as one of the concert tour stops by more than one world-class star. On 3 August, Robbie Williams will visit us as part of his concert tour “Live 2025”. The organisers promise that this concert will be like a journey through the world of the legendary musician, where each hit reminds of his iconic career, while the charisma of the stage will take fans into a new whirlwind of emotions.
The Positivus music festival attracts thousands of visitors every year, offering the opportunity to hear both world-renowned artists and new, lesser-known music stars. Known for its free and relaxed atmosphere, Positivus will offer exciting art and dance stage performances on 8 and 9 August, providing festival guests with a wide selection and diversity of musical genres.
Operetta has a special significance in Latvian culture, so every summer (this year – from 10 to 16 August) lovers of this genre gather in Ikšķile for the “Operetta Festival”. The Operetta Festival is more than just a music festival – it is a journey through the magic of the historical landscape of Ikšķile, where listeners are offered an unforgettable experience of operetta, musicals, opera music, chamber music and jazz. All this is dressed up in an artistically sophisticated stage space. The festival is an emotionally filled adventure that provides joyful encounters and unforgettable discoveries through the richness of sound and sensations.
SEPTEMBER
The 22nd International Chamber Orchestra Festival “Kremerata Baltica” will take place in three concerts at the Dzintari Concert Hall in Jurmala from 12 to 14 September. Twenty-three brilliant young musicians from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will captivate the audience with boundless joy and exuberance, as well as with the diversity and vitality of the programme.
OCTOBER
The experimental music festival “Skaņu mežs” has been taking place in Riga since 2003. The festival organisers say about the project: “Skaņu mežs” looks at changes in contemporary music and informs its visitors about them, while also providing an insight into the history of 20th century music.” Since each of the contemporary music forms also has an experimental aspect, the festival from 3 to 4 October will represent various genres, starting with free improvisation, academic avant-garde, electro-acoustic music and noise music, as well as with unique changes in rock music, hip-hop and rhythmic music.
NOVEMBER
As the country celebrates its Independence Day, everyone is invited to enjoy the annual Staro Rīga light festival, which takes place from 15 to 18 November. This festival is one of the largest light festivals in Northern Europe. It was launched in 2008 to celebrate Latvia’s 90th birthday and has become an indispensable part of Latvia’s birthday celebrations in Riga.
DECEMBER
In anticipation of Christmas and the New Year, a special atmosphere will captivate you with a concert entitled “Cabaret”. “Cabaret” will include narrative performances that allow you to celebrate life and enjoy special and beautiful moments. The concert consists of a live orchestra performing jazz, pop and rock ballads in unusual arrangements. The dance troupe will complement the show with acrobatic and sensual performances, while mimes will take care of the comic side characteristic of cabaret with their own unique flair.
