“Riga Hanseatic Sound Bridges” at the Latvian National Museum of History

On 16 August during the Riga City Festival, the “Musica Humana” association, in collaboration with the Latvian National  Museum of History, invites you to the event “Riga Hanseatic Sound Bridges” at Riga Castle, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The museum at Riga Castle will be open from 10:00 to 17:00.

The event is designed to promote the study, interpretation, and accessibility of Latvia’s cultural heritage—particularly the musical traditions of the Hanseatic era—to the general public, while celebrating Riga’s 825th anniversary and strengthening the city’s historical and cultural identity as a significant Hanseatic center in Northern Europe.

The first part of “Riga Hanseatic Sound Bridge”—a concert at 11:00 —is designed for families with children to explore the world of early music in a relaxed and creative environment. Audiences will not only be able to hear historical instruments but also actively engage in the process, experiencing music through movement, play, and participation. Together with choreographer Guna Ezermale, children and their families will have the opportunity to experience the rhythm of music through dance, thereby perceiving the historical material as vivid and accessible.

The event will be complemented by a guided tour (in Latvian) of the castle led by a museum guide, offering an opportunity to explore the cultural and historical setting in which this music might have been played, and strengthening the connection between space, history, and sound. The tour will take visitors through all floors of the castle, starting from the vaulted cellar and ending in the attic, and during the tour, the guide will highlight both the story of Riga Castle as a witness to historical events and an impressive architectural structure, as well as its various inhabitants. The tour begins at 1:00.

At 16:00 the concert program “Riga  Hanseatic Bridges of Sound” will begin, inviting listeners on a journey to 15th–16th-century Northern Europe —a time when Riga, as an important city of the Hanseatic League, was a vibrant center of trade, culture, and the exchange of ideas. The program focuses on music created within the Hanseatic League during this period, highlighting compositions and musical traditions associated with Magdeburg, Danzig, Stralsund, and the Baltic region. The skbut consort—the predecessor of the Renaissance trombone, whose timbre is both gentle and solemn—will lend the concert a distinctive sonic character. The vocal polyphony will complement the instrumental sound, creating a rich and spatial soundscape.

The event is organized by the early music ensemble “Ars Antiqua Riga,” whose members are professional and experienced musicians specializing in historical performance practice. The ensemble actively performs in Latvia and abroad, participates in international projects, and promotes the study and popularization of early music; its artistic director is Pēteris Vaickovskis.

Admission to the event is included with a museum admission ticket.

Venue: LNMH Riga Castle, Pils laukums 3 (entrance from Daugavas gāte).