Festivāls Arēna - Arena 2025

ARĒNA 2025
Since 2002, the ARENA New Music Festival has delighted audiences every autumn with outstanding artists, new music, premieres, and themes of global relevance. This year the festival takes place from October 27 to November 1, focusing on issues of the environment and ecology. Concerts, discussions, and other – not only musical – events will unfold at the festival’s two familiar main venues: Riga Reformed Church and the gallery Istaba. The program also includes a new episode of the podcast Arena Speaks and the musical journey Arena Travels, both led by composer Andris Dzenītis.
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The festival opens on Monday, October 27, at 7:00 p.m. at gallery Istaba with the sound installation LIVING PIPES – an evening with multimedia artist ANDERS LIND. This Swedish creator composes both for traditional instruments, often combined with electronics, and for multimedia installations, and has surprised audiences with projects such as the Mobile Phone Orchestra and Animated Notation. In Riga, he will present his latest work – the interactive installation Pipes. Inspired by the principles of organ and pan flute playing, the work invites every visitor to explore and activate the sounds themselves, approaching it not just as an observer but as an active participant. The installation will be open through November 1.

The OPENING CONCERT takes place on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:00 p.m. in Riga Reformed Church, featuring the Latvian debut of the legendary Cologne-based contemporary music collective ENSEMBLE MUSIKFABRIK’s wind quintet. Alongside Georges Aperghis’ striking 2023 work Heart Blowing, the program will present three world premieres – by young Estonian composer Krõõt-Kärt Kaev, Latvia’s own “sound jeweler” Jānis Petraškevičs, and the versatile Irish artist Ailís Ní Ríain.

On Wednesday, October 29, at 7:00 p.m., the same venue will host FLOWING TEXTURES, a program devoted to jazz and student ideas. In addition to new works by students of the JVLMA Composition Department, the concert will feature a newly formed duo of two acclaimed jazz musicians – saxophonist KĀRLIS AUZIŅŠ and guitarist ELLA ZĪRIŅA. Their creative voices, shaped by international experience, cross boundaries and expand perceptions of sound and music, delving into the timbral and textural possibilities of their instruments. The program includes new works written by Auziņš especially for this duo, reflecting influences from contemporary music, jazz, and folk traditions from around the world.

On Thursday, October 30, at 6:00 p.m., the festival invites audiences to the discussion ARĒNA RUNĀ / ARĒNA SPEAKS at gallery Istaba, where composer Andris Dzenītis will talk with musicians and visual artists on the theme Art and Music.

On Friday, October 31, the Polish contemporary ensemble ENSEMBLE KWARTLUDIUM, founded in 2002, returns to Riga. Specializing in the creation and repeated performance of new works, they will share the stage at 7:00 p.m. in the Chamber Hall of VEF Culture Palace with the vocal group PUTNI in the jointly created program VOICES OF NATURE, which highlights this year’s central theme. Works include Żaneta Rydzewska’s Entomophony, exploring insect life; Jenny Hettne’s Habitat, inspired by birdsong; and Marie Samuelsson’s reflection on plastic-polluted waters. A new piece for this unusual Polish-Latvian ensemble has been created by Jēkabs Nīmanis, and the premiere of Renāte Stivriņa’s Planets for female voices and cello will also take place.

The festival’s final day, November 1, is full of events. At 3:00 p.m. (departure from the Latvian National Library bus stop), ARĒNA CEĻO / ARĒNA TRAVELS begins – a musical journey with conversations and mini-concerts led by Andris Dzenītis. The first stop is Riga Catholic Gymnasium, where at 3:30 p.m. the acclaimed Polish accordionist MACIEJ FRACKIEWICZ will perform the program SEASONS. Known for his versatility, charisma, and even a touch of “musical hooliganism,” Frąckiewicz will present Seasons for accordion and live electronics by Przemysław Scheller.

The journey continues at Aleponija Club at 5:00 p.m., where the program VOICING RIGHTS brings together soprano VIKTORIJA MAJORE and writer RVĪNS VARDE. Blending electronically enhanced music, literature, and theater, the program focuses on Latvian works, including premieres by Henrijs Poikāns, Žanete Spirka, and Agita Reķe, as well as music by Arturs Maskats and contemporary Italian composers.

The culmination comes with the closing concerts WATER TRIO at 7:00 p.m. in Riga Reformed Church, featuring the BALTIC PERCUSSION TRIO – three outstanding percussionists from the Baltic states: Guntars Freibergs, Andrius Rekašius, and Heigo Rosin. Their program is built around works addressing environmental and ecological themes, including Rain Tree by Toru Takemitsu, Bridging the World by Tobias Broström, and Elements by Madara Pētersone. Alongside these are new works written especially for the trio by Anselms Kaugars (Latvia), Linas Rupšlaukis (Lithuania), and Lauri Jõeleht (Estonia).

ARENA is a contemporary music festival that, since 2002, has brought together composers, performers, and audiences from many countries to Latvia’s concert halls each autumn. Its motto Hear the Future! captures the festival’s essence – to showcase the richness of today’s music, foster the creation of new works, and encourage their performance and documentation. Over more than 20 years, ARENA has embraced everything from intimate chamber settings to large-scale symphonic works, from electroacoustic explorations to cross-genre projects, jazz-inspired moods, stage productions, and the splendor of vocal music. Alongside its future-facing vision, the festival has also consistently highlighted the legacy of past masterworks while commissioning the newest works from Latvian composers.

The ARENA New Music Festival is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Riga City Council’s Department of Education, Culture and Sports through its Riga Festivals program, the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Latvian Radio 1, and Latvian Radio 3 Klasika. Concerts are co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Culture Promotion Fund of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, and the Swedish Stim Forward Fund.

Tickets available at Biļešu paradīze box offices and at the venues.