Contemporary music festival “Baltic Music Days 2026. We Live In Different Times”
will take place in Riga and Liepaja from April 9 to April 17
Two Latvian cities Riga and Liepaja will host the central contemporary music event in the Baltic states this April. The Baltic Music Days annually rotate between Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. This year, the festival with a motto “We Live In Different Times” initiates a close collaboration with the Nordic Music Days and the composers’ associations of Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands. As a result, the programmes will feature not only outstanding works by Baltic composers, but also significant music from the Nordic countries, allowing us to better understand and appreciate our closest neighbors.
The festival strengthens the role of the Baltic states in the European cultural dialogue and positions the region as an active participant within Europe’s cultural landscape. Through various networking events, this collaboration is being—and will continue to be—deepened, potentially leading to a joint festival in the future. Delegations of composers and cultural professionals from every Baltic and Nordic country will attend the Baltic Music Days. This newly established cooperation fosters sustainable exchange between regions and supports the continued life of new works beyond their premieres, enabling compositions to be performed in multiple contexts rather than only once.
The festival is a platform for new creation: at least 15 world premieres will take place at the Baltic Music Days, alongside at least 32 additional performances, and the programme expands our understanding of contemporary music through diverse concert venues, pop-up concerts, and lecture panels. This year’s festival also promotes the development of contemporary music culture in the regions, with half of the concerts taking place in Riga and the other half in Liepāja—supporting Liepāja’s visibility as a cultural capital and encouraging exchange between musicians, composers, and ideas across both cities.
Baltic Music Days 2026 invites listeners to explore diverse experiences of time. The motto “We Live in Different Times” reflects not only different historical realities of the Baltic states, but also the many ways in which time can be understood and experienced. The title functions both as metaphor and as reality, highlighting the complex interaction between past, present, and future. In this context, time is not a unified or linear process. Instead, it is experienced differently across the Baltic states, shaped by their unique histories, struggles for independence, and ongoing transformations. The Baltic states, often described in terms of a “two-speed Europe”, experience time at a different pace than Europe’s political and cultural centres. Yet they remain closely connected to the broader European project, participating in the continent’s historical development in distinctly local ways.
The Baltic Music Days also emphasise the significant contribution of women composers: in the festival programme, at least 50% of commissioned and performed works are written by women. In keeping with the theme of “different times,” composers represented in the programmes span all generations – the youngest is 23, the oldest 90 years old. Baltic Music Days 2026 is not only a festival, but a long-term platform for strengthening the Baltic cultural voice in Europe and beyond. Its uniquely curated structure, bringing together the composers’ unions of all three Baltic states, makes it the only project of its kind in Europe and functions as a laboratory for new creation, an instrument of cultural diplomacy, and a socially responsible platform.
The program of the festival:
April 9: Prelude To Different Times. Juventus, Minjona, Dziesmuvara – Riga Central Station
April 10: Kairos/Chronos. Liepāja Symphony
Orchestra – “Great Amber” concert hall, Liepāja
April 11: Phantom Streams. Alexander Tillegreen – “Great Amber” concert hall, Liepāja
April 11: Letters to a Young Poet. Latvian Radio Choir – “Great Amber” concert hall, Liepāja
April 12: Turning the Time. Ensemble for New Music Tallinn – “Great Amber” concert hall, Liepāja
April 13: The Arrow of Time. Twenty Fingers Duo – Latvijas Radio 3 “Klasika”, live broadcast
April 14: Active Access: Opening Music-Making Through Technology. Workshop by a Scottish composer Ben Lunn – JVLMA, Riga
April 14: Time to Rise. Qullaq – Ģertrūdes Street Theatre, Riga
April 15: Two Northern Times. Aud the Deep Minded and HAV Duo – Ģertrūdes Street Theatre, Riga
April 16: Timeless Origin. Orchestra Riga – VEF Culture Palace, Riga
April 17: River of Time. Reinis Zariņš – Spīķeri Concert Hall, Riga
Tickets for the festival concerts in Riga and Liepaja are available here: www.bilesuparadize.lv
The festival is possible thanks to the Latvian State Culture Capital foundation, Riga City Council, Liepāja concert hall “Great Amber”, Liepāja City Municipality, Nordic Music Days, Nordic Culture Fund, Nordic Council of Ministers, Culture Action Europe and Statens Kunstfond; the festival’s informational support is done by Latvijas Radio 3 “Klasika”.