The festival was unusual as was the entire theatrical and concert season of the country taking place within the frames of celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Latvia.

According to a well-established tradition, "Golden Mask in Latvia" took place in three cities — Riga, Ventspils and Liepaja. The festival poster featured nine performances highlighted by the jury of the Russian national theatrical award "Golden Mask" and members of the expert council of "Golden Mask in Latvia".

The main event of the festival was the arrival of ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theatre, which hasn’t had a tour in Latvia since 1980. On October 8 and 9 the main musical theater of Russia performed on the stage of the Latvian National Opera "The Taming of the Shrew" to music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Those who love ballet are well aware that the choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot is creating original performances only for the artists of his troupe — Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. "The Taming of the Shrew" is the only exception in his biography, great work crowned with three Golden Mask awards: "Best Ballet Performance", "Best Female Role" (Ekaterina Krysanova), "Best Male Role" (Vladislav Lantratov).

The opening evening of the festival was marked by a closed ARARAT event, during which the guests were offered ARARAT cocktails made special for the occasion of the "Golden Mask".

Another surprise was legendary "Shukshin Stories" of Theatre of Nations — directorial debut of Latvian director Alvis Hermanis in Russia.

Three performances created recently didn’t leave the audience indifferent. The loudest of them — "Oedipus the King" of Sophocles is a joint project of the State Academic Theatre after Yevgeny Vakhtangov and National Theatre of Greece.

The second performance presented by Vakhtangov Theater "Our Class" by Tadeusz Slobodzianek and directed by Natalya Kovalyova introduced the audience of Riga, Ventspils and Liepaja to the younger generation of the troupe.

Another good reason to visit Ventspils on October 15 and Liepaja on October 17 was the "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" of the Mayakovsky Theatre. Young director Nikita Kobelev created this performance based on the bestseller of American neuropsychologist Oliver Sacks.

The partner of the festival was legendary Armenian brandy ARARAT.

The general partners of "Golden Mask" in Latvia for 13 years have been "Severstal" company and Rietumu Banka. The festival is supported by the Ministries of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation, the Embassies of the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation, the Cultural Capital Fund of Latvia, the Riga City Council, the Liepaja City Council, the Ventspils City Council and the Freeport of Riga Authority. The main information partner is the First Baltic Channel. Information partner — Delfi portal.

Organizer of "Golden Mask in Latvia" — ART Forte company.

Additional information is available on www.goldenmask.lv and www.artforte.lv websites.