The experimental music festival Skaņu Mežs, partner event of RIXC will take place on 9–10 October at Hanzas Perons, featuring two days of contemporary music performances and other special events. 

Among the most anticipated artists in this year's programme are the Norwegian avant-pop duo Smerz, the American technical black metal band Krallice, Kenyan ambient music composer KMRU, free improvisation saxophonist Michael Foster, alternative rapper Cities Aviv and many others. Learn more about the programme and purchase tickets at skanumezs.lv. 

The Wire Magazine, previously having hailed Skaņu Mežs as the biggest avant-garde music festival in the Baltic states, focused the review of its 2025 edition on its informed and open-minded audience: “There is nothing this audience can’t handle,” wrote Daniel Spicer.

Last December, British radio station BBC Radio 3 aired a two-hour show, devoted to the festival. Music journalist Tom Service said: “Skaņu Mežs casts its net as generously as possible over the vast and thrilling terrains of new musicmaking.”

Meanwhile, Daryl Worthington of The Quietus described the festival as “a weekend of stunning performances”, “a space of radical sound and vision”, and “a world of deviant and defiant art”.

This summer, The Quietus wrote about Skaņu Mežs once again, hailing it as “the most internationally recognised platform for experimental music in Latvia”.

The 2026 edition of Skaņu Mežs will feature 16 concerts, 2 installations and other additional activities. 

The festival is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City Council, Goethe-Institut Riga, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, BALTA and Valmiermuižas Alus.

Skaņu Mežs is part of the sound art project tekhnē, supported by the European Union and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The festival is also part of the NERDS network, co-funded by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.

Media partners include The Quietus, TVNET, Satori.lv, Radio NABA, Arterritory, magazine “Mūzikas Saule”, and la.lv.