“Bildes” Festival Opens With a Children’s Concert at VEF Culture Palace
The children’s concert of the “Bildes” music and art festival takes place on Saturday, 17 October, at the VEF Culture Palace in Riga. Young singers from vocal studios and ensembles across Latvia will perform.
The annual music and art festival “Bildes” will hold its children’s concert on Saturday, 17 October, at the VEF Culture Palace in Riga. Young singers from various Latvian vocal studios and ensembles will take the stage. They will perform with their own prepared programmes as well as alongside well-known musicians, presenting new songs and the festival’s traditional anthem, “Tikai tā!”.
Who will perform
The concert will feature the children’s vocal studios “Dzeguzīte” and “Tev un man” (together with Normunds Rutulis), “Knīpas un knauķi”, “Kolibri” and “BikiGrupa”, “Poppy”, “Vējā” from Lapmežciems, “Podziņas”, “Nots”, “Notiņas” from Valmiera, “Momo” and the dance studio “Ritms”.
Teachers and group leaders stress the festival’s importance for children’s creative development and personal growth. Igeta Ozoliņa, head of the children’s and youth vocal studio “Tev un man”, says the studio has taken part in “Bildes” for more than 20 years. In her view, unlike competitions, where children worry about a jury and prepare intensively, the festival lets them enjoy its atmosphere and have more fun. She says the children enter a professional environment with quality sound and lighting, where they are received as genuine artists.
A surprise from “Tev un man”
The studio has prepared a special number: it will perform “Ai, Zuzanna”, a piece by the ethno group “Ogas”, which Ozoliņa leads. Inspired by this year’s artistic theme of the festival – painting milk and petrol cans – the children are reportedly going to step onto the stage with watering cans, petrol cans and milk cans.
What else is coming
Several more concerts will take place as part of the festival. A blues concert is planned at the “Daile” music house on 28 October, and on 30 October a concert titled “First Time at Bildes” will present joint projects of new and lesser-known bands with experienced musicians. The closing concert of the festival will be held on 17 November at the VEF Culture Palace.
