WinterFest concerts in Riga

Every year since 1999, the Herman Braun Foundation in Latvia is organizing a series of concerts to celebrate preparations for the Winter season in November, Christmas in December, New Year and Russian Orthodox Christmas in January, and the regular anniversary of Foundation in February. The Winterfest held this year from November 14, 2009 to February 13, 2010, includes nine concerts of vocal, baroque, jazz and classical music that you should not miss.
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The magic of puppets thrills Cyprus

Once a small village on the south east outskirts of Nicosia, Latsia is today one of the largest and most populous suburbs of the Cypriot capital. For the last three years, Latsia has been playing host to the only major event focused on the art of puppetry and mime. The International Puppet and Mime Festival of Cyprus, organized by the municipality of Latsia, is bringing to the Mediterranean island some of the best theatre companies of the genre from around the world. This year, there is a full program of events starting at 9am on October 22 with the last performances on November 2.
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Colourful times with puppets and mimes

With more than a hundred performances, seminars, workshops, street happenings, exhibitions and screenings, Greece’s most exciting festival for the young celebrates its 11th edition in the northern Greek city of Kilkis, just south of Thessaloniki. The International Puppet and Mime Festival, which runs from September 29 until October 13, brings together artists, puppeteers and theatre companies from Asia, Europe, Australia and North America in a colourful gathering which is one of its kind.
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The Kukeri take the streets of Pernik

Keeping up with a still-surviving centuries-old tradition that goes back to its earliest origins in pagan times, the city of Pernik, in a small distance southwest of the Bulgarian capital, organizes every even year one of the country’s most interesting festivals. The International Festival of Masquerade Games, or Surva, which counts 44 years of history, will once again take the streets of the beautiful city and the hearts of the locals and visitors to the area. Be there from 29 to 31 of January 2010 for the festival’s 19th edition.
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Evenings of music at Bellapais Abbey

Every year, the end of the summer in the northern Cypriot town of Kerynia is signaled with a most prestigious international event, which gathers music lovers at the picturesque Bellapais Abbey, in the nearby village of Bellapais, where Lawrence Durrell spent much of his time writing. The International North Cyprus Music Festival is already presenting its 7th edition from September 16 to October 16, 2009.
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Theatre in dialogue

It’s no accident that Dialog-Wrocław international theatre festival is taking place in one of Poland’s most historic place where Czech, Polish, German and Jewish influences have met. The city, which has been called Wratislavia, Breslau and Wrocław, has always been friendly to artists, open to what is new and tolerant to what is different. From 10 to 17 of October, fifteen theater productions from Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Russia, Lithuania, Lebanon and South Africa will be proving just that.
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Gay Film Nights in Cluj-Napoca

Being gay in Romania today is not as complicated as it used to be back in the communist times but still not easy compared to the rest of the western world. This October, Cluj-Napoca in the centre of Transylvania and a four-hour drive from Bucharest as well as from Budapest will be hosting the 6th edition of the Gay Film Nights, a festival that has known ever-increasing popularity since it was first appeared. Inspired by last year’s success, organizers are giving their best to turn this edition into a first class event, bringing movies from around the world to the charming Transylvanian city, the third biggest in Romania.
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Händel’s genius remembered

Paying a tribute to the genius of Georg Friedrich Händel, the German-born composer who left a deep mark in baroque music as we know it today, the Warsaw Chamber Opera has been organizing a wonderful festival that should not be missed if you are in the Polish capital from September 28 to December 19. The Georg Friedrich Händel Festival is kicking off its second edition at Warsaw’s Royal Castle and includes operas, chamber music concerts and recitals.
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Sofia Dance Week: move your mind

The Sofia Dance Week is the first serious effort to establish a modern dance festival in Bulgaria as a permanent institution. Last year’s first edition of the dance festival was a huge success and brought to Sofia for the first time seven of the best European dance companies and choreographers, attracting a crowd of 10,000 that filled the streets and parks of the city. This second edition, from September 24 to October 1, 2009, is more promising.
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Händel and Haydn remembered

Exactly 250 ago German composer George Frideric Händel died at the age of 74 in London. Fifty years later Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was dying in Vienna at the age of 77. To commemorate these two anniversaries, the Budapest Baroque Festival is dedicating its fourth edition to the two great composers with fourteen evening concerts at Budapest’s St. Michael’s Church, from September 17 to September 11.
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Red Dragon roars in Europe

With 45 major art exhibitions and more than 60 concerts from traditional to modern music, and 75 performances of theatre, opera, dance, puppets and acrobatics onstage in 40 cities in Belgium (but also in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg), europalia.china is definitely the biggest festival held in Europe to date. The festival runs over a period of more than 17 weeks -October 8, 2009, to February 14, 2010- but it is actually an eight-month marathon, since its events start as early as mid-September and some exhibitions run until the end of April 2010. Plenty of time for more than a million Europeans to get to know China’s millennia-old culture and traditions.
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Romanian Theatre celebration

The crème de la crème of the productions in the last Romanian theatre season’s can be seen in a packed ten-day explosive festival in Bucharest that has been followed by theatregoers for 19 consecutive years. The 2009 edition of the Romanian National Theatre Festival takes place from October 31 to November 9, with performances by companies all over the countries given in several leading theatres of the Romanian capital.
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Candles light in Birgu again

A three-day event out of the ordinary expects those who will be in Malta in the weekend of October 9-11. Across the Grand Harbour from the capital city of Valletta, lies the beautiful quaint harbour town of Birgu or Vittoriosa, which celebrates a unique festival with lots of interesting twists. One of the highlights is the Birgu by Candle Light, when the streets and narrow lanes of Birgu are deprived of their normal electricity lights to be lit instead by thousands of candles. It is a night to remember when Birgu is literally seen under a different light and appreciated even more for its historical heritage.
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Five-week art celebration at the Pompidou

Five weeks of exhibitions, shows, conferences, screenings, living paintings, concerts and performances punctuate the programme of a new festival organized by the Centre Pompidou in Paris from October 21 until November 23, 2009. The Pompidou is inviting a wide-ranging audience to discover today’s creation in all its shapes and colours in this continuous laboratory of contemporary art. Join the festivities in Paris and take the privileged opportunity to renew your perception of creation and contemporary issues.
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Kypria cultural extravaganza

A cultural extravaganza staged at ten venues across the island, the Kypria International Festival brings to Cyprus some of the world's best artists in the fields of music, dance and performing arts. The premier cultural event of the year, the festival has been running since 1990 and each new edition is eagerly awaited. This year, from September 1 to October 4, prepare yourselves for an excellent line-up in eleven top events, which include Aida Gomez’s Carmen ballet, Dulce Pontes’ Fados and Umoja’s South African spirit…
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Pixel Art weekend in Riga

It’s been nine years since the first Waterpieces festival was held in the Latvian capital, Riga. Back then it was a one-day event but as years passed the festival grew and now three days seem not to be enough to show all the video art works and performances lined-up. The Waterpieces International Contemporary Art and Video Festival celebrates its ninth edition at the Betanovuss former personnel ship at AB dambis alongside the Noass floating galley across the water from the Old Town of Riga, from 4 to 6 of September, but you can visit the exhibitions until October 4.
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Apollonia’s arts celebration in Sozopol

This is the 25th year that the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Sozopol in Thrace becomes host to many of the country’s talents at the annual Apollonia Festival of Arts 2009, which takes place from August 29 to September 6. The festival organized by the Apollonia Arts Foundation features a rich programme of events, which includes eight theatre plays, 27 concerts, 15 book presentations, two theatre readings, a poetry night, a political debate and cinema nights.
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Anim’est fun in Bucharest

More than 300 short and feature animation films, video-clips and commercial TV spots can be enjoyed during the Anim’est International Animation Festival that takes place in Bucharest for the fourth year, from 2 to 11 of October. This year’s edition has a series of treats for the animation aficionados, such as star–movies, which received awards in important festivals, animation films by Romanian students and special guests. What’s more important, a great deal of those films premiere in Romania.
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It’s all about Allgarve!

It is definitely the biggest event of the year outside Lisbon. Allgarve 2009 –whether you call it festival or promotional extravaganza- is a massive and complex series of artistic and entertaining events that promise to bring the southern Portuguese region of Algarve into the cultural map of Europe. It includes various independent festivals with top names from the international music scene, carefully planned line-ups, an art exhibition spree, sport and gourmet events, you name it. And all this in a span of an amazing 8-month period, from April 2 to October 25.
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Modern music in rainy days

“Truly inspired! The cliché that modern music is difficult has been indisputably disproved”. That is what d’Wort daily paper had enthusiastically written of Luxembourg’s Rainy Days Festival last year. Over two long weekends –the last of Autumn and the first of Winter- visitors to the festival of the Philharmonie Luxembourg will have the opportunity to discover a “Message in a Bottle” (theme of this year’s edition). In other words: mysterious communications, objects found by chance, more or less understandable messages –those are some of the exciting new music discoveries that await you in Luxembourg’s rainy late autumn days.
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