What to do in Rio de Janeiro this weekend (and during the long weekend!): October 30–November 2

For those who want to enjoy the long weekend with something different, Carioca Matsuri 2026 is a massive Japanese culture festival in Rio de Janeiro, featuring over 80 hours of programming spread over three days.

The event brings together cuisine, the otaku scene, musical performances, cosplay contests, and workshops from October 31 to November 2 at Riocentro.

On Halloween night, the Candlelight concerts swap their classical repertoire for themes that have left their mark on horror cinema and pop culture. Performed live by the Ornamentus string quartet, the pieces take on new arrangements against a backdrop illuminated by a sea of candles.

The set list includes Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the theme from “Halloween” (John Carpenter), “Tubular Bells” (theme from “The Exorcist”), a medley from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Puppet,” immortalized as the opening theme for “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

In Rio de Janeiro, it’s Carnival all year round! That’s why it’s worth checking out the Rio Carnaval Expo, which just opened at Cidade do Samba.

An immersive, interactive, and multisensory exhibition that invites you to experience the history of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival and its samba schools.

From the origins of samba to behind the scenes at the samba schools, from the creation of costumes and floats to the power of the percussion section and the excitement of the Avenue!

The exhibition “Amazônicas: Poéticas femininas” has arrived at the CCBB, showcasing the power of contemporary art created by women from different generations, hailing from the states of Pará, Acre, and Amazonas.

Organized by the Women’s Museum, the exhibition features 80 works by 21 contemporary female artists from Brazil’s Northern region and will occupy all the rooms on the second floor of the cultural center.

The unprecedented exhibition “Mario Cravo Neto: Under the Bahia Sun” features photographs, objects, videos, drawings, and watercolor paintings by artist Mario Cravo Neto.

Created between the late 1960s and the mid-1970s, the works depict the Bahian landscape of that same period and transport visitors to a Bahia whose provincial atmosphere is no longer evident today.

Still on the topic of exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro, be sure to check out the exhibition featuring nine studies and paintings that reveal the creative process behind Cândido Portinari’s monumental panels, *Brazilian Economic Cycles*.

The exhibition will be on display at the Capanema Palace through November, with free admission by appointment.

Visual artist and art director Raimundo Rodriguez presents his exhibition “Grandes Formatos” at the SESC Nova Iguaçu gallery.

Curated by Osvaldo Carvalho, the exhibition features panels, assemblages, and large-scale installations in which the artist combines objects, materials, and references from Brazilian art and popular culture.

The works bring together two aspects of Rodriguez’s career: set design, developed through television productions and musical performances, and research in the visual arts, marked by experimentation with forms, textures, and compositions.

To get into the Rio vibe this weekend, be sure to check out the festival dedicated to bossa nova taking place at Teatro Café Pequeno, featuring 18 shows.

The sessions run from Friday through Sunday, with tickets starting at R$ 50.

After a sold-out debut run and a brief stop in São Paulo, the one-man show “Edson” is back in Rio de Janeiro.

By performing a monologue for the first time and directing himself, actor Matheus Macena explores the phenomenon of Brazilian tragedy and its historical repetitions.

In the performance, he melodically weaves together the scene, where the traces of the actual death of Edson Luís de Lima Souto—a young high school student murdered by the military dictatorship in March 1968—confront possible fictional scenarios of what the lives of the Lima Souto family and Edson Luís might have been.

The theater company Bagagem Ilimitada premieres the play HIENAS: A Toxic Comedy this Saturday in Jacarepaguá.

Directed by Jefferson Almeida, with a script by and starring Jacyara de Carvalho and PV Israel, the play portrays—with biting humor—a society torn apart by a lack of ethics, unbridled ambition, and indifference to the suffering of others

This is the last weekend to see the show *Heathers – The Musical*, currently playing at the Nathalia Timberg Theater in Barra da Tijuca.

With biting humor, irreverence, and an explosive soundtrack led by a live band, “Heathers” tells the story of Veronica Sawyer, a smart teenager trying to find her place at Westerberg High School.

A night of classics at Circo Voador! This Friday, Plebe Rude celebrates one of the best and most important albums in Brazilian rock with the re-release of “O Concreto Rachou.”

In addition to a special vinyl edition, the celebration includes a new version of “Até Quando Esperar,” a documentary, and never-before-seen content paying tribute to the album’s history.

This weekend, the Mário Tavares Hall, an annex of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, will host the chamber opera “Domitila” by the acclaimed composer João Guilherme Ripper.

With stage direction by Isabel Guéron and soprano Georgia Szpílman in the title role, the show promises an immersive experience in the story of the forbidden love between Emperor Dom Pedro I and his great love, Domitila de Castro, the Marquise of Santos.

Based on the passionate letters the emperor wrote to his mistress, the opera recreates Domitila’s last day at court, when she is forced to say goodbye to her beloved.

In October, CAIXA Cultural Rio will host the city’s premiere of the show “Ana Frango Elétrico de Bolso.”

In an intimate setting, the performance brings together composer, poet, visual artist, and music producer Ana Frango Elétrico and multi-instrumentalist Vovô Bebê, in an experience that brings Rio’s artists closer to the audience.

The performances take place on October 30 and 31 at 7:00 p.m., with LIBRAS interpretation during the Saturday session, which also features a Q&A with the artist.

Anyone looking to spend the night before the holiday dancing all night long will find an option in Barra da Tijuca. On Sunday, House Break takes over Qualistage with ten hours of electronic music, from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The lineup features Bhaskar and Cat Dealers, as well as OWNBOSS, Fancy Inc, Blazy, Greg, and Nat Valverde.

The nighttime lineup covers various genres of electronic music, ranging from house, bass house, progressive house, tech house, and psytrance.

This Saturday, SulAmérica presents another edition of SulAmérica Sessions, bringing a special collaboration between the Ouro Preto Orchestra and Carlinhos Brown to Praça Mauá.

Free and held outdoors, the concert promises to transform one of the city’s most iconic venues into a stage for a celebration of Brazilian music, the diversity of rhythms, and the creative power of one of the country’s most inventive artists.

The setlist features songs written by Brown that have become well-known and taken on new dimensions through the voices of other great Brazilian artists, such as Cássia Eller, Marisa Monte, and the Tribalistas.

For those who love traditional forró, there’s another edition of the Baile MariRoots, Só Pedrada! this weekend at Fundição Progresso.

The event, conceived by singer Marimelo, features her Big Band, DJ sets by the São Paulo-based collective Forró dos Ratos, dance classes with instructors from the Pé Descalço school, and visual projections by VJ Thiago Zunto.

This weekend, Praça do Lido in Copacabana will be the place to be for anyone who loves live music and barbecue.

From noon to 10 p.m., Costela & Rock features pop-rock and rock concerts, over 60 craft beer brands, and attractions for kids. Among the highlights is a giant Ferris wheel filled with charcoal-grilled ribs, allowing you to watch the meat being prepared up close.

Admission is free, with a request to donate two kilograms of non-perishable food items, which will be given to social institutions.