Today, September 5, the Seryozha production of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre opens the Golden Mask Festival on the stage of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.

A press conference was held at the theater: the artists, directors, organizers, and partners of the Festival spoke about the upcoming event. The Director General of the Golden Mask Festival Maria Revyakina expressed its idea as concisely as possible having quoted the ex-Minister of Culture of Russia Mikhail Shvydkoy: “We need to take these performances to the regions: the country must know its heroes.” Maria Evseevna also noted the high level of theatrical events of Krasnoyarsk and the Krasnoyarsk Region within the annual Golden Mask Festival (including the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre productions). That is why collaboration with Krasnoyarsk is important for the Festival.

Maria Revyakina presented to journalists 6 performances Krasnoyarsk spectators will see during the Festival. The Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre will host the following ones:

September 5 and 6: Seryozha - the production of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre;

September 9 and 10: Son - the production of the Russian Academic Youth Theatre based on the play by Florian Zeller;

September 17 and 18: the Contemporary Choreography Nights presented by the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre (three one-act ballets staged by prominent representatives of the contemporary choreography world: Akram Khan's Kaash, Jiří Kylián's La Petite Mort, Sharon Eyal's Autodance).

The programme of the Golden Mask Festival in Krasnoyarsk also includes the productions Rocker. Chapter 1 and [Cheese Earth] Rockers. Chapter 2 of the Novosibirsk Contemporary Art Laboratory (hosted by the Pushkin Krasnoyarsk Drama Theatre) and Time-Out of the Novosibirsk Theatre Red Torch (hosted by the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theatre).

Managing Director of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre Svetlana Guziy, acting as hostess of the venue, welcomed the guests, thanked them for the honour of opening the Festival, noted the avid interest of the audience in the Festival, and gave her wishes of storms of applause and a sincere atmosphere in the auditorium to the theatres.

Dramatic artists - Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre Konstantin Khabensky and Maria Smolnikova - gave emotional speeches at the press conference.

“It is a performance about people who are torn apart by love,” Konstantin Yurievich (he performed Karenin) described Seryozha this way.

“For me, playing Anna was like climbing Everest,” Maria (as Anna Karenina) described her work on the role.

We add that the regional programme of the Golden Mask Festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the government and the Ministry of Culture of the Krasnoyarsk Region. The general partners are the Mikhail Prokhorov Charitable Foundation and Sberbank. Partners of the programme of the Golden Mask Festival in Krasnoyarsk are the En+ Group company and Volga-Dnepr group of companies.