Festival “Laima Rendezvous Jūrmala 2024” – a celebration of music and unforgettable surprises

The festival “Laima Rendezvous Jūrmala 2024”, which took place from 26 to 28 July at the Dzintari Concert Hall, brought together 45 artists from 14 countries, offering a unique musical experience. These three days were filled with high quality music and many surprises that delighted both the audience and the artists.

Every day, both well-known Latvian performers and international stars took to the stage, creating a special atmosphere. The festival was marked by soulful and emotional performances, such as the duet of Eurovision 2024 winners NEMO and Laima Vaikule, as well as the spontaneous performance of Andrei Makarevich with Bi-2, which easily won the hearts of the audience. Maksim Galkin surprised the audience by performing songs in Latvian, and the duets of festival hostess Laima Vaikule with Nikolai Trubach and Andrei Makarevich created a special mood.

The exclusive afterparties, held after each festival day, became special events. At these gatherings, artists and guests continued to celebrate music and art in a relaxed atmosphere, often improvising, singing, and dancing until the early hours of the morning. It was a unique opportunity for guests to get closer to their favorite artists and enjoy the evening in a special setting.

The festival concluded with standing ovations and a sense of great emotional uplift. These three nights demonstrated the power of music to unite, bring joy, and inspire. The organizers express their gratitude to all the artists, guests, and sponsors for this wonderful experience and look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

The Laima Rendezvous Jūrmala 2023 festival was a great success, confirming its reputation as the most significant cultural event in Latvia.
The music marathon at the Dzintari Concert Hall attracted audiences from Latvia and abroad, providing three days of celebration after the break caused by the pandemic and war in Ukraine.

The festival was dedicated to supporting Ukraine. There were Ukrainian soldiers among the guests, to whom Laima Vaikule presented cards with wishes.

Such stars as Salvador Sobral, Laima Vaikule, Vera Brezhneva, Andrey Makarevich, Nino Katamadze, Inese Galante, BLANKA, Janis Stibelis, Markus Riva, SunStroke Project, Patrisha, Elina Nechaeva and Denita Karaslavova performed on stage. A special event was the benefit of Laima Vaikule, her first performance in Latvia for a long time, as she was traditionally accompanied by the Ukrainian ballet “Freedom”.

The surprise of the festival was the performance of Maxim Galkin, who together with Laima performed the song “Yellow Leaves” in Latvian. The audience was delighted.

The festival also supported a charity initiative aimed at helping Ukrainian children. The portal http://ziedot.lv collected 3 629 euros, thanks to which 20 children affected by the war were provided with recreation in a Latvian camp.

The festival ended with fireworks of emotions and left unforgettable impressions for all participants and spectators.

In the spring of 2020, the international vocal competition “LAIMA VOICE” was launched. We received thousands of applications from various countries and were thrilled to discover the immense talent of singers from around the world. The competition was intense, and after three rigorous rounds, broadcast live to millions of viewers, the “Laima Voice” jury announced the names of the participants who would advance to the final to compete for victory.

A SINGER FROM UKRAINE CROWNED AS THE WINNER

On Sunday, June 27, the grand finale of the international vocal competition “LAIMA VOICE” was held at the private residence of the legendary Latvian singer Laima Vaikule. The jury announced the winner, who will have the honor of performing at the Laima Rendezvous Jūrmala festival in 2022.

The atmosphere at the “LAIMA VOICE” final was charged with anticipation until the very last moment, as the jury deliberated and ultimately named the talented singer from Kyiv, Anastasia KOLA Prudius, as the victor. Anastasia is already a recognized performer, having participated in Ukraine’s national selection for “Eurovision,” as well as appearing on television shows such as “The Voice of the Country” (Season 6) and “Dancing with the Stars” in Ukraine.

Each participant received valuable guidance and mentorship from industry experts and Laima Vaikule herself, as well as prizes from the competition’s partners, Greencosmetics—a company representing outstanding brands of natural cosmetics.

Festivāls notiek jau piekto reizi, tādējādi aizvadot savu jubilejas gadu. Tā ietvaros programmā iekļauti pārsteidzoši un koši priekšnesumi, kurus izpilda vairāk nekā 50 dažādi populāri mākslinieki no 15 valstīm. Festivāla plašajai ģimenei pirmo reizi pievienojas Sergejs Lazarevs, Ļubova Uspenska, dziedātāja Noa no Izraēlas un daudzi citi izpildītāji. Festivālam unikālus vizuālos risinājumus veido multimediju mākslinieks Māris Kalve. Festivālu apmeklē liels masu mediju pārstāvju skaits, neskaitāmi viesi no ārvalstīm. Noslēguma koncerts ir izpārdots gandrīz mēnesi pirms tā norises.

The festival is broadcasted to more than 100 million viewers in different countries. More than 40 famous artists, including Philip Kirkorov, Mario Biondi, Kseniya Sidorova, Larisa Dolina, Andrei Makarevich, Semyon Slepakov, Vera Brezhneva, Sunsay and Kel Torres perform at “Laima Rendezvous Jurmala 2018”. The festival becomes a real pearl of latvian summer, attracting guests and fans from around the world.

The President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis expresses his support for the festival. Visiting the festival with his wife, he speaks about importance of Laima Rendezvous Jurmala for the culture and tourism development in Latvia. Among many singers of the festival there were legendary Chris Norman, Kristine Opolais, Valery Syutkin, Elena Vaenga, Vakhtang Kikabidze, Gennady Khazanov, Intars Busulis, DAGAMBA and many others.

With every year the festival is rapidly expanding, the guest list becomes bigger. Already from the second season, it takes four concert days. Many popular singers from Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia arrive, such as Christina Orbakaite, Maxim Galkin, Grigory Leps and Mons Selmerlöv. Laima peforms in unforgettable duets and trios with almost every guest star. There are hits in different languages, and many performers have songs in several language versions. Precious choreographic support is provided by well-known and exquisite Freedom Ballet from Ukraine.

Laima Rendezvous Jurmala is held for the first time in Jurmala’s great concert hall “Dzintari”. For the first time, we see the pop icon Laima Vaikule not only as jury member on some major music competition, but as a creator of a large international popular music festival, held in Jurmala. Its participants are latvian pop-stars, as well as legendary singers from Russia and other countries, such as Nani Bregvadze, Boris Moiseev, Verka Serdyuchka and Alexander Buynov. For the first time many unexpected vocal duets take place and become a famous feature of “Laima Rendezvous”. The first festival lasts for two days and has a great success.