Another scorching weekend is on the cards in Belgium, with temperatures up hovering around 30°C. Not sure how to make the most of the warm weather? Look no further!
This weekend has plenty of activities to celebrate the sunny days, including hundreds of live outdoor concerts, one of the biggest events on the Belgian sporting calendar and a film festival (for those seeking some respite from the heat!). Find our favourite events happening in Brussels below.
Art, music and culture
Fête de la Musique, various locations in Belgium, until Sunday 22 June
To mark the summer solstice, Brussels and Wallonia will be flooded with music this weekend. The festival aims to showcase home-grown talent in Belgium's Francophone region with hundreds of free concerts and events.
Credit: Fête de la Musique / Bernard Babette
Expect free live shows across the capital, including DJ sets and gigs covering everything from rap and rock to electro and classical music, in parks and on outdoor stages as well as in museums. Further afield, Liège, Wavre, Braine-l'Alleud and many more town and cities will host a variety of events. Brussels' Museum of Musical Instruments is also celebrating 25 years in the historic Old England building this June. It will mark the occasion on Sunday during the festival with a packed programme of events and live concerts for all the family.
Find more information here.
'Midsummer Mozartiade', various locations, until 22 June
The beautiful, historic Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert and Théâtre Royal des Galeries will provide the stage for the ninth edition of the 'Midsummer Mozartiade' festival. On the agenda this year is 'Così fan tutte' – an opera of exquisite intimacy on the complexities of the love game. Arguably the most successful ensemble opera of all time, Così contains "some of the most beautiful pages Mozart has ever written."
Credit: Amadeus & Co
On Saturday, it will be Brahms' turn to make our hearts dance with his bewitching 'Liebesliederwalzer', which introduces four voices, singing in turn desire, nostalgia, sadness and joy.
Find more information here.
Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF), various locations in Brussels, from 20 to 28 June
The BRIFF returns to three of Brussels' cinemas this weekend (UGC De Brouckère, Palace and Galeries) with a packed programme of screenings, ranging from new features to classics. Friday 20 June – the opening night – will see the world premiere of 'Les Tourmentés' ('The Haunted Minds') by Belgian director and novelist Lucas Belvaux, who will be present at the UGC's Grand Eldorado with two of the film's stars, Ramzy Bedia and Linh-Dan Pham.
Credit: Brussels International Film Festival
Other BRIFF highlights include an open-air screening at Mont des Arts of 'Flow', the stunning, Oscar-winning Latvian animation (co-produced by Belgium), as well as 'Cuba and Alaska', a documentary by Yegor Troyanovsky about two real-life medics on the front-line in Ukraine, Alexe Poukine's 'Kik'a, the story of a young pregnant woman in Brussels forced to take desperate measures when her life is turned upside down, and Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning classic, 'The Piano'.
Find more information here.
Out and about
Evere en Fête, Evere, Saturday 22 June
Every year at the end of June, the Brussels municipality of Evere invites its residents and visitors to a full day of free concerts and entertainment in front of the town hall. People can wander around the iconic flea market, devour delicious dishes served up by the various food trucks, or go on one of the funfair rides.
Children can enjoy an entire afternoon of activities, including sports, face painting, a photo booth, bouncy castles and much more. There will also be live music from noon and people can continue to dance the night away to Queen tribute band Mother Mercury, DJ Daddy K and DJ Dizaï.
Find more information here.
BXL Tour, Place des Palais, Sunday 22 June
Since BXL Tour first welcomed cyclists to take to the streets of Brussels in 2017, it has become one of the most iconic events on the Belgian sports calendar. The ninth edition this Sunday will see cyclists depart from the city centre of Brussels between 09:00 and 09:50, pass through Parc du Cinquantenaire and Bois de la Cambre, before heading north and finishing at the Atomium at around 13:00.
The fourth edition of the 'BXL Tour' cycling event for amateurs in Brussels, Sunday 13 September 2020. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
The 40 km cycle race through the streets of the capital is open to semi-professional and amateur cyclists alike (including those with electric bicycles). There are several categories of different levels of intensity. Registrations are open until 21 June.
Find out more information here.
Mid-week activities
'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', La Maison qui Chante, from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 29 June,
The Brussels Shakespeare Society (BSS) is bringing one of the Bard's lesser-known works to the capital's stage next week: 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona'. The play is set in 1960s Italy: "a period where youth culture, love songs and love itself became a dominant obsession: all you need and all that mattered," according to director Tom Mallan, who has directed the play several times before elsewhere.
Colourful music, dancing, décor and fashion from the era have enabled him to "fill plot holes and flesh out key moments that the script leaves unseen," while giving the play a "festive, eclectic and baroque-bordering-on-madness flavour."
The 16th century play is surprisingly modern, Mallan adds, as the protagonists are revealed to be two women instead of the titular two gentlemen. "Our modern expat audience will also recognise themselves in the theme of leaving home to seek opportunity or adventure, only to meet with unexpected crossroads that test your very identity." Expect colourful characters, silly subplots and wacky dance numbers.
Find more information here.
