Things to Do in Cyprus This Weekend (Oct 30 - Nov 1)

French string quartet Quatuor Diotima returns to Nicosia for its 30th anniversary, five years after its Cyprus debut. The bill also names Georges Aperghis. The quartet's repertoire runs from 19th-century masterpieces to some of the most important music being written today, and its recordings have won multiple Diapason d'Or awards. You hear an ensemble that plays Wigmore Hall and the Elbphilharmonie, on a Friday night in Nicosia.

Berlin duo Norman Weber and Marco Resmann, together as Luna City Express, bring 25 years of house music to a Limassol cocktail bar. Their sets blend House, Chicago House, Funk, Disco, Hip-Hop and Acid Jazz, the mix they have played at Watergate, DC10 and Shelter. The night runs until 03:00.

Inflatables, a climbing wall and a paddling pool with little boats fill the Olympion School grounds in Paleometocho on Saturday and Sunday. Bubble and snow shows run through the day, there is a magic show at 16:30, and you will find street food and a café. The €15 child ticket covers the whole day, parents get in free and face painting costs an extra €5.

Near Pentalia village, a private off-grid hill in the Paphos mountains hosts the first night of a new open-air rave series. Hard techno and high-bpm sets carry from sunset into the deep night on a heavyweight sound system, with 92GROOVZ, KATE IVY and Soprano, and Stavros Tsia going back to back with Tommy Tommy Berlin. It runs until 08:00, and the hilltop has panoramic views.

Fans of Russian power metal get the band's first ever show in Cyprus, played to mark 30 years on stage. The set covers their best-known songs, including music from the fantasy metal opera Elven Manuscript, and comes with a full stage show. Doors open an hour before the band starts.

City Plaza in Nicosia turns back into an abandoned mall for one Halloween night. Yet More, a house DJ and producer with releases on Innervisions, headlines, with Angie (CY), Amyrran, Rokoshka and Selène playing support sets. The dress code is Halloween Elegant, and the music goes on until 03:00.

Larnaca's Savino Live hands Halloween to a live band playing rock, punk and pop-rock songs by Green Day, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and Lady Gaga. These are songs you will want to sing back to the stage. Costumes are welcome, whether you come as a witch, a vampire or a rock star, and the music runs late into the night.

Children aged 6 to 10 spend Sunday morning in Lakatamia at “In Other People’s Shoes”, a free workshop about empathy. They read a story together, talk about feelings and emotions, and try hands-on exercises in seeing a situation from someone else's side. The session finishes with a creative craft project.

Camille O’Sullivan, the Irish singer and actress, gives her first performance in Cyprus with Loveletter. She dedicates it to the artists who shaped her: Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O'Connor, David Bowie, Radiohead, Jacques Brel and Nick Cave. Each song becomes a short theatrical story as she changes voice, mood and body language from one character to the next. Familiar songs come out passionate, dramatic and sometimes wild.

Boris Grebenshikov and Aquarium bring a new programme to Limassol, built around the album “Strange News from a Distant Star”. In the 1970s and 1980s he helped lay the foundation of the Soviet rock scene. His songs move between quiet love ballads, light dancing reggae and rock-n-roll anthems, and his discography runs to more than 30 studio albums.