What's on in Riga

Arts and Entertainment Events in Latvia

May 16-22

Culture cruise
Culture cruise

Welcome to your weekly guide to concerts, exhibitions and festivals in the Latvian capital! it's published every Friday morning - follow on Facebook for regular updates.

Learn more about my tours in Riga and Latvia.

Highlight of the Week

Museum knight
Museum knight

Runners in the Riga Marathon will see the city at a frantic pace this weekend. But for those of us who like a more leisurely speed, Museum Night is a chance to peer into fascinating, hidden corners, as dozens of culture institutions throw open their doors on Saturday.

Riga Castle offers tours at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 into the usually-closed storehouse of the National History Museum. Places are limited, book +371 67221357 or info@lnvm.gov.lv. The castle's public areas will be open from 19:00 to 24:00, complete with knights in armour and live medieval music.

Entry to Sigulda's New Castle will be free, with live music, waltzing lessons and letter writing on handmade paper.

At Jūrmala's Open-Air Fishing Museum, learn how to smoke fish at 20:00, then at 22:00 enjoy a concert by melodic folk band Autobuss debesīs.

More musical events in museums are listed below  Check out the Museum Night programme. Also, dozens of places of worship will be holding special events on May 17 in the Night of the Churches.


Towers aplenty
Towers aplenty

Live Music

classical

Paula Šūmane on violin and Ilona Birģele on organ play baroque and late Renaissance masterpieces  in Riga Cathedral. Friday May 16, 19:00, tickets from 15 euros.

Enjoy three nights of free concerts in St. Peter's Church

  • American pianists Kristin Jonina Taylor and Natalia McNaman play Western European classics on Sunday May 18, 16:00.
  • Rinalds Rozeslauks (oboe) and Ingūna Grīnberga (organ) perform European classics on Wednesday May 21, 18:00.
  • And Ilze Dzērve accompanied by a violin trio perform Bach and Mozart on Thursday May 22, 18:00.
Tap your feet to the heartbeat
Tap your feet to the heartbeat

Enjoy fine music by the pupils and staff of the Music Academy of Latvia.

  • Pianists Sintija Šteinkopfa and Ansis Sauka play a concert titled  "From Heart to Heart" with Latvian and European composers' works. In the academy, Friday May 16, 18:00, tickets are 7 euros
  • Local and Erasmus students present a vocal chamber music concert. In the academy, Wednesday May 21, 18:00, tickets cost 7 euros.
  • Five budding baton wielders lead the academy's mixed choir for their choir conducting diploma exams. In the University of Latvia Great Hall,Wednesday May 21, 18:00, tickets cost 5 euros.

World-renowned Youth Choir Kamēr and soloist Ilze Strikaite-Lapiņa perform French chamber music as part of the choir's 35th anniversary festival.In Ave Sol Concert Hall, Saturday May 17, 18:00, tickets from 18 euros.

jazz & folk

Be charmed by the Inese Bērziņa Jazz Trio at Masa gallery and culture bar. Saturday May 17, 20:00, tickets from 12 euros.

Evilena Protektore and her crew play an emotional, contemporary jazz show called Breath of Life. At M/Darbnīca, Thursday May 22, 20:00, tickets from 15 euros.

rock & blues

Rīgas Modes rock Club Depo. Friday May 16, 20:00, tickets 10 euros at the door.

Celebrate the season's opening of the Hāgensberga Pagalms culture hub in Āgenskalns. Youthful rockers Sub Scriptum play at 19:30, followed by beloved crooner Žoržs Siksna at 21:00. Friday May 16, free entry.

Museum Night concerts

Big and beautiful
Big and beautiful
  • Concerts will be held from 18:30 on various floors of Riga's Trades Union House by Music Academy of Latvia pupils, the ukulele ensemble Lasolla and the women's vocal ensemble Reiz bija, followed by a concert at 23:00 by indie pop band Dzirnavnieki.
  • In the Riga Latvian Society House, jam with accomplished players of the kokle, the ancient Latvian wooden harp, and hear a giant 209 cm long dižkokle
  • At the Museum "Jews in Latvia," the Jewish community choir Šofar performs at 17:00 while the Marc Crofts Kletzmer Ensemble (Switzerland) takes the stage at 21:00.

Seaside masterpiece
Seaside masterpiece

Family Fun

Play together, stay together
Play together, stay together

There's fun for young and old at the International Family Day carnival Roku rokā (Hand in Hand) at the Mežaparks Song Festival Arena.

Live music, dancing, drawing and musical instrument making classes (bring along a PET bottle), as well as a candy making workshop led by beekeeper Jānis Vainovskis. Sunday May 18, 12:00-16:00, free entry.

Food and Drink

Something's fishy
Something's fishy

Stuff your gills at Fish and Seafood Day at Āgenskalns Market. Chow down on fish 'n' chips and fish solyanka. Buy fresh and smoked fish and spices for seafood from local providers. And from 12:00 to 14:00, beer sommelier UIdis Līcis will let you know what amber nectar to down with the catch of the day. Sunday May 18, 11:00-17:00, free entry.

Vege heaven
Vege heaven

Dig into blood-free burgers, Middle Eastern treats, ice cream, desserts and more at the AUGam Plant-Based Food Festival in Tallinas Quarter. Saturday May 17, 11:00-19:00, free entry.


Disabled transport in Riga
Disabled transport in Riga

Travel easy in Latvia and Riga with my disabled accessible tours.


Exhibitions

Enter the Chronosphere by Ukraine's Lesia Vasylchenko at Riga Art Space. Part of Riga Photography Biennale Next 2025. Until July 6.

Move "Up, Down and All Around" at an exhibition by porcelain art tandem Ingūna Skuja and Melissa Braden. Riga Porcelain Museum, until June 8.

Discover the Dutch legacy of the style in Art Nouveau in Groningen. Riga Art Nouveau Centre, until September 14.

Relive the dramatic events of 1990-1991 in the outdoor photographic exhibition We are Free and Independent on Līvu laukums. Until May 30.

Ponder a retrospective of three late Soviet-era Baltic artists - Malle Leis, Maija Tabaka and Marija Terese Roženskaite in "Beyond the Frame." Contemporary Art Centre Zuzeum, until May 18.

Discover the career of architect Gunārs Birkerts, creator of Riga's "Castle of Light," at "Birkerts. Libraries. Light." National Library of Latvia, until January 17, 2026.

Examine paintings, sculptures, graphics and installations nominated for the Purvītis PrizeNational Art Museum of Latvia, Until June 8.


Tread gently through "Layers", a new exhibition by 24 Baltic glass artists at Riga's Museum of Decorative Art and Design. Until May 18.

Delight in "The Garden of Past Pleasures," a retrospective for Latvian contemporary master Līga Purmale. National Art Museum of Latvia, until August 10.



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