Make Music Day Lviv
Make Music Day Lviv is part of the international Make Music Day / Fête de la Musique. Every year on June 21, music leaves halls, clubs, and rehearsal rooms and steps into the city. Concerts can appear in a square, a courtyard, a cafe, a museum, a park, a passageway, on a balcony, or just on the street. You do not have to go to a stage — sometimes it is enough to step outside and follow the sound.
How it all began
The Festival of Music was born in France in the early 1980s. The French Ministry of Culture noticed a simple thing: millions of people play musical instruments, but most of this music stays at home, in classrooms, studios, and rehearsal rooms.
The idea of Fête de la Musique was to bring this music outside for one day. Not just to showcase the professional stage, but to let everyone be heard: amateurs and renowned performers, orchestras and street bands, choirs and solo musicians, schools, theaters, clubs, cafes, and cultural spaces.
The French name Fête de la Musique sounds almost like Faites de la musique — "make music." That is the point: if you can play — go out and play; if you don't — bring your friends and listen.
The longest music day
The first Festival of Music was held on June 21 — the summer solstice. A long evening, a warm city, open windows, people on the streets — all of this became a natural setting for music.
Over time, the French initiative turned into an international movement. The festival began to be held in different countries and cities: from Paris to Buenos Aires, from Boston to Beirut, from Montreal to Dakar.
On this day, music sounds in the most diverse places: on streets and squares, in parks and gardens, in cafes and museums, at train stations, in courtyards, clubs, schools, theaters, on benches and balconies. In one city, jazz, folk, rock, electronic, classical, choral singing, hip-hop, traditional song, or sung poetry can all be heard side by side.
Make Music Day in Lviv
Lviv joined the international Make Music Day map in 2013. For a city with street culture, music schools, theaters, clubs, cafes, choirs, festivals, and musicians constantly present in public space, it felt natural.
From the beginning, Make Music Day Lviv was never meant to be one big concert. It is made of many small performances across the city, in familiar places and in places where you do not usually expect music.
Make Music Day Lviv is a day for walking through the city by sound. You might find a choir in a courtyard, a guitar outside a cafe, an electronic set in a cultural space, singing in a square, or a small performance where you usually just pass by.
What matters
Make Music Day is open by design. Anyone who loves music can take part: amateurs and professionals, young and older musicians, bands, choirs, orchestras, solo performers, and people performing for an audience for the first time.
For some, this may be their first public performance. For experienced musicians — a chance to play in a new place for a new audience. For listeners — an opportunity to freely move between the different musical worlds of the city.
The image of the festival is created together: musicians take over public space, venues open their doors, and listeners become part of the longest music day.
The motto is simple: if you can play — go out and play. If you don't play — bring your friends to the street and listen.
For musicians, places, volunteers, and everyone who wants to be part of the city that day.
Join Make Music Day
On June 21, you can play, open a space, help on site, or simply come to listen. Make Music Day is made by people who step into the city.