Jump to content

Yury Grigorovich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Nikolayevich and the family name is Grigorovich.

Yury Grigorovich
Юрий Григорович
Grigorovich in 1979
Born(1927-01-02)2 January 1927
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died19 May 2025(2025-05-19) (aged 98)
Moscow, Russia
EducationLeningrad Choreographic School
Occupations
  • Ballet dancer
  • choreographer
  • ballet director
  • pedagogue

Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich (Russian: Юрий Николаевич Григорович; 2 January 1927 – 19 May 2025) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and pedagogue who dominated the Russian ballet for 30 years, especially as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995. His choreographies of The Stone Flower, Ivan the Terrible and Romeo and Juliet are said to have "redefined Soviet ballet".[1]

Biography

[edit]

Grigorovich was born in Leningrad on 2 January 1927[2] to a family connected with the Imperial Russian Ballet; his uncle Georgy Rozai had been a pupil of Vaslav Nijinsky and dancer with the Mariinsky Theater and the Ballet Russes.[3] He graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1946[2] and danced as a soloist of the Kirov Ballet until 1962.[1] He choreographed Prokofiev's The Stone Flower in 1957, which became a breakthrough. In the piece based on fairy tales from the Ural Mountains, he made classical pointe dancing a means of expression. The production involved a new generation of dancers who became stars.[3] He choreographed Arif Melikov's The Legend of Love [ru] in 1961, based on a Persian tale; with scenic designer Simon Virsaladze, he interspersed monologues of characters with ensemble pieces.[3] Grigorovich became artistic director of the Kirov in 1962.[2]

In 1964 Grigorovich moved to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where he would work as chief choreographer until 1988, then artistic director until 1995.[1][4] He created eight new ballets, often with Virsaladze as scenic designer, and versions of classical ballets, the basis of the Bolshoi repertoire.[5] His most famous productions there were full-length narrative ballets: Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in 1966, Khachaturian's Spartacus in 1967, and Ivan the Terrible in 1975. His choreography of The Nutcracker was performed at the Vienna State Opera 125 times between 1973 and 1997.[2] His Spartacus choreography was presented at the Royal Opera House in London in 2019, regarded as the Bolshoi's calling card.[6]

Grigorovich choreographed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet in 1979, and Shostakovich's The Golden Age.[5] In 1980 he choreographed the opening ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.[7] He controversially reworked Swan Lake to produce a happy end for the story in 1984. In 1995, he was accused of having allowed the theatre to plunge into stagnation and after many a squabble was ousted from office.[7]

Grigorovich then choreographed for various Russian companies before settling in Krasnodar, where he set up his own company in 1996.[1][4] Grigorovich headed the juries of numerous international competitions in classical ballet,[8] including the Prix Benois de la Danse[7] He was offered the opportunity to return to the Bolshoi in the capacity of ballet master and choreographer in 2008.[1][7]

Personal life

[edit]

Grigorovich's first wife was ballerina Alla Shelest, who danced in the Kirov Theatre pieces that he choreographed, The Stone Flower, and The Legend of Love. They separated when he moved to Moscow in 1964; she stayed in Leningrad, and married choreographer Rafail Vagabov.[9][10]

In Moscow, Grigorovich met ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, who danced the main roles in the ballets he choreographed.[9] She was married (to an engineer, in 1963) but they began an affair in 1966.[9][10] Bessmertnova divorced her husband and married Grigorovich in 1968.[9] They stayed together until her death in 2008.[1][10]

On 19 May 2025, Grigorovich died in Moscow at the age of 98,[1][2][7][11] on the same day as one of his fellow ballet dancers and collaborators, Yuri Vladimirov.[1]

Awards and honours

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hagan, Rachel (20 May 2025). "Titan of Russian ballet Yuri Grigorovich dies aged 98". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e "On the Death of Yury Grigorovich". Vienna State Opera. 22 May 2025. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Galayda, Anna (19 May 2025). "How choreographer Yury Grigorovich became a symbol of the Bolshoi Theater". Gateway to Russia. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Yuri Grigorovich". Bolshoi Theatre. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Russian choreographer, ballet master Grigorovich passes away". interfax.com. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  6. ^ Pullinger, Mark (30 July 2019). "The Bolshoi's Spartacus conquers Covent Garden". Bachtrack. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Legendary Russian Choreographer Yury Grigorovich Dies at 98". The Moscow Times. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  8. ^ Yury Grigorovich to head İstanbul ballet jury Archived 5 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b c d ЗИМНЯЯ, Татьяна (8 October 2011). "Была музой, женой и соратницей: Юрия Григоровича, согласно последней воле, похоронят рядом с любимой женой Наталией Бессмертновой" [She was a muse, wife and comrade: Yuri Grigorovich, according to his last will, will be buried next to his beloved wife Natalia Bessmertnova]. Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  10. ^ a b c "Умер Юрий Григорович. Каких женщин маэстро любил больше балета и как стал душой Большого театра" [Yuri Grigorovich has died. Which women the maestro loved more than ballet and how he became the soul of the Bolshoi Theater]. Life.ru (in Russian). 19 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  11. ^ "Биография Юрия Григоровича". TACC (in Russian). Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Указ Президиума Верховного Совета РСФСР от 24 мая 1966 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР от 13 апреля 1973 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Награждение орденами и медалями СССР" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  15. ^ "Постановление ЦК КПСС и Совета Министров СССР О присуждении Государственных премий СССР 1977 года в области литературы, искусства и архитектуры" (PDF). Sovetskaya kultura (in Russian). No. 91. 8 November 1977. p. 5.
  16. ^ "Награждение орденами и медалями СССР" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Адабиёт, санъат ва архитектура соҳасида Ҳамза номидаги Ўзбекистон ССР давлат мукофотларини бериш тўғрисида" [On awarding the State Prizes of the Uzbekistan SSR named after Hamza in the field of literature, art and architecture]. Sovet Oʻzbekistoni (in Uzbek). No. 247. 28 October 1983. p. 2.
  18. ^ "Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР от 31 декабря 1986 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  19. ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 27 апреля 2002 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 27 июля 2007 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 17 декабря 2011 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 7 июня 2017 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yuri Grigorovich.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yury_Grigorovich&oldid=1292648239"