Riga Opera Festival

 
Riga Opera Festival - Richard Wagner cycle
Riga Opera Festival - Richard Wagner cycle
Riga Opera Festival - Richard Wagner cycle
Riga Opera Festival, 7 days / 6 nights

The Riga Opera Festival, founded in 1998 by the Latvian National Opera has already become a valuable tradition. The festival is highly anticipated by both Latvian audiences and opera-lovers from abroad.

Day 1
 
 
  • Arrival in Riga, meeting and transfer to a luxury hotel in Old Riga, check in.
  • Free time for a rest after a long journey.
  • At the evening you are invited to enjoy "Das Rheingold" at the Latvian National Opera dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Start time - 19:00.
    The dwarf Alberich renounces love and steals the gold guarded by the maidens of the Rhine. He forges a magic ring from the gold, but it soon becomes the object of desire by Wotan, ruler of the gods, who wants to save his wife’s sister from the giants. The infuriated Alberich lays a curse on his lost treasure – anyone who possesses it will eventually meet their doom…
    “The characters in this play about the Ring take every means to obtain power and the right to construct a reality which seems meaningful to them. Even the ruler of the gods, the creator of all that is real and the guardian of its order, finds himself entrapped in the artificiality of his own reality. Throughout the play, moments of strength and beauty, truth and genuineness are exposed as sorry efforts of his conceitedness. The gods have never been so committed to humanity and the humans have never been more at the mercy of the gods – ever since the day they fabricated the theatrical arena in which they continually display and invent themselves,” says stage director Stefan Herheim of the production’s concept. Performed in German with Latvian and English surtitles.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 2
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel.
  • Morning private guided Old Riga Town walking tour.
    You will enjoy the beauty of the ancient Hanseatic city and learn about this wonderful historical city, while strolling through the cobble-stone, pictorial streets of the Old Town.
  • Optional lunch at the modern Latvian cuisine Kalku Varti restaurant in Old Riga.
    Kalku Varti presents you an opportunity to open the gate to a journey into the world of meals accompanied by the play of flavours and tastes of healthy and natural products revealing the mysteries of culinary traditions of various cultures. It offers a feast that may allure, surprise and satisfy, at the same time also revealing unknown aspects of the well known things.
  • At the evening you are invited to enjoy "Die Walküre" at the Latvian National Opera dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Start time - 18:00.
    The young Siegmund doesn’t even realise that he is the one who could save the gods from destruction. But his father Wotan, ruler of the gods, has given in to the desires of his jealous wife and sentences his son to death. Wotan’s daughter interferes unexpectedly – the courageous Valkyrie Brünnhilde, whose heart has been overcome with compassion. However, the price to be paid for disobedience is high…
    “In his passionate musical drama Die Walküre, Wagner confronts issues such as adultery, incest, betrayal and murder. Almost all of these, however, are motivated by love. In his production, Viestur Kairish focuses on the existential conflict between love and politics. The battle is fought, won and lost in the privacy of Hunding’s house as much as it is publically in an arena. It’s a timeless conflict, as old as mankind itself, wrapped in the hypnotic beauty of Wagner’s music,” says dramaturge of the Latvian National Opera production Jochen Breiholz. Performed in German with Latvian and English surtitles.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 3
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel.
  • Guided tour to Rundale Palace and Park
    Today you will visit Rundale Palace — the most beautiful baroque palace in the Baltics (18th century). The palace is an outstanding example of the early work of Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
  • In the afternoon free time in Riga.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 4
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel.
  • Optional guided Jurmala summer resort tour
    In Jurmala you will discover a combination of charming wooden houses built in the beginning of the last century and modern resort buildings. Jurmala's natural treasures - the mild climate, sea, healthy air and 33 km long white sand beach will give you a good emotions for a long time.
  • At the early evening we invite you to enjoy "Siegfried" at the Latvian National Opera dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Start time - 17:00.
    Siegfried, the third opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen tetralogy, has all the ingredients of a gripping fairy tale: A naive hero grows up deep in the forest without parents. Not yet knowing what fear is, he kills the dragon Fafner and wins not only the magical ring which has the power to rule the world, but also Brinnhilde, the Valkyrie who sleeps on a mountain top surrounded by an impenetrable wall of fire. Wagner’s music, a sublime web of leitmotifs, is as emotionally rich as it is dramatically thrilling.
    “Siegfried is a story about power and the battle for it. Being one of our most quintessential quests, it is always relevant, and never more relevant than today. Siegfried is specially trained and nurtured with one specific aim—as an instrument for acquiring power. However, the power of childishness and nature has survived in Siegfried, and that is what makes this character so fascinating,” says Viestur Kairish. Performed in German with Latvian and English surtitles.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 5
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel.
  • Optional guided Sigulda & Gauja National Park sightseeing tour
    Sigulda is one of the most picturesque towns in Latvia in the Gauja River valley, situated in the Gauja National Park and is known as the most popular tourist and leisure destination. You will see the Medieval Sigulda Castle, Sigulda new Castle (Kropotkin Palace), Turaida Medieval Castle, visit local history museum, Gutmana cave, Krimulda Manor and other historical and natural objects.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 6
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel.
  • Morning at your leisure.
  • In the afternoon we invite you to enjoy "Götterdämmerung" at the Latvian National Opera dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Start time - 15:00.
    In Götterdämmerung, the work’s essential conflict between the longing for love and the greed for power – which Wagner developed and deepened during the course of the Ring’s operas– comes to a shattering culmination. The hero Siegfried unknowingly betrays his bride Brünnhilde. She swears vengeance – and sets off a chain of tragic events that brings the world to an end…
    The stage director Viestur Kairish: “Siegfried is the innocent victim. He is full of emotions, absolutely unconditional in his love, and so naïve that it is touching. He does not really understand anything of what is happening around him. Siegfried is very much an anti-hero. Like many other real-life heroes. What I find fascinating is the two sides of the concept of the hero: on the one hand, there is the actual life of the hero, which is very often not heroic at all, but rather sad and tragic. On the other hand, there is the legend – what people make out of the hero's life after he died.” Performed in German with Latvian and English surtitles.
  • Overnight in Riga.

Day 7
 
 
  • Breakfast at the hotel, check out till 12:00.
  • Transfer to Riga airport.
    We look forward to welcoming you at Riga Opera Festival next year!

Price per person:
  • 749 € sharing Double room

Price includes:
  • 6 nights accommodation at luxury Grand Palace Hotel 5***** or similar in Riga Old Town
  • 6 breakfasts at the hotel
  • Arrival and departure transfers
  • Guided Riga Old Town walking tour, 2 hours
  • Guided tour to Rundale Palace and Park, 6 hours incl. free time for lunch at the Palace restaurant
  • Service and VAT

Optional:
  • Riga Opera Festival tickets - from 10 - 70 € per ticket
  • Lunch at Kalku Varti restaurant
  • Sigulda and Jurmala guided tours
  • Flight tickets to and from Riga

Please contact us info@grandbaltics.com to make a reservation for Riga Opera Festival.