Yesterday, Karina Soldatova, the Vaganova Ballet Academy student who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2016, died after a courageous battle against the disease. During the autumn of 2016 she returned to study at the Academy but earlier this year there was a recurrence, which we reported on here, in May of this year. After various appeals to help…
Q&A in italiano When did you start singing? My first performance was when I was three years old, then when I was five I started my musical training, and at six I recorded my first CD featuring twelve children’s songs. Why did you start singing? I started to sing because I heard children singing in…
Nikolay Tsiskaridze is in town with two of his star pupils from the Vaganova Academy. Eleonora Sevenard and Egor Gerashchenko are surely future stars that will be seen increasingly over the coming years. Tsiskaridze was running up and down the aisle at La Scala yesterday, making sure that the tempi were just right and that…
The 28th of October 2015 marked the end of Nikolay Tsiskaridze‘s first two years as head of the Vaganova Academy and the staff celebrated the occasion with a small get together. His appointment was controversial at the time, and many high ranking dancers and administrators spoke out against the Bolshoi dancer being given the top…
In a recent interview with Our Russia‘s Olga Malik, Nikolay Tsiskaridze spoke once more about the Russian ballet and the Vaganova Academy’s relationship to dance in the rest of the world. I believe that the Russian ballet school is one of the few (if not the only) school that keeps the traditions of the classical ballet…
Maya Plisetskaya died of a heart attack today in Munich. She was 89. The director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Vladimir Urin, said, She died of a severe heart attack. The doctors tried everything, but there was nothing they could do. Mikhail Shvydkoi, former Russian Minister of Culture, said, I always thought that Plisetskaya would live forever….
The Russian Ministry of Culture announced this morning that there would be an external inspection of the organisation of St Petersburg‘s Vaganova Ballet Academy. It will examine the economic and educational structure for irregularities after “”the emergence of numerous items in the media, which refer to procedural violations at the Vaganova Academy”. Though, bizarrely, the Ministry…
Earlier today, teachers at the Vaganova Ballet Academy published an open letter, written in four languages, to President Vladimir Putin asking him to reconsider the appointment of Nikolay Tsiskaridze as the new school principal. Diana Vishneva was one of the first to openly criticise Tsiskaridze’s appointment, saying that it could ruin the future of the renowned…
Diana Vishneva feels passionately about the Vaganova Ballet Academy, from where she graduated in 1995, and yesterday made it clear that she has doubts about its future under the new school Principal, Nikolay Tsiskaridze. Last year, the historic school celebrated its 275th anniversary, and Vishneva talked to Anna Galaida about its importance. The school is everything: the guarantee of…
Valery Gergiev says he is delighted at the appointment of Nikolay Tsiskaridze as the new head of the historic Vaganova Ballet Academy, but not everyone is so happy. Diana Vishneva, herself a graduate of the school in St Petersburg, is said to be outraged at the appointment, according to RIA Novosti. There was no significant reason…
Russian Culture Minister, Vladimir Medinsky, talked to Izvestia about the reshuffle at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. The newly appointed Artistic Director and Principal, Ulyana Lopatkina and Nikolay Tsiskaridze, are outstanding dancers, but have no experience in directing an institution. How do you entrust the oldest ballet school to inexperienced people? Tsiskaridze has a rich experience in teaching. Before reaching…
Nikolay Tsiskaridze has been appointed Principal of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, and Ulyana Lopatkina will be its new Artistic Director. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky told Izvestia: Tsiskaridze is preparing thoroughly to take up this post, bringing with him a wealth of teaching experience, and his training in the legal profession. Lopatkina is now at the height of her…
The Russian Minister of Culture has confirmed that Nikolay Tsiskaridze will perform for the last time on the Bolshoi‘s stage in performances of The Nutcracker, leading up to his fortieth birthday on 31 December. At a meeting of the Theatre Workers’ Union this morning, the minister Vladimir Medina, together with Bolshoi director Vladimir Urin, said that these would be…
Anatoly Iksanov has retired as director of the Bolshoi Theatre. His contract finishes in 2014 but he has retired early, or been sacked, according to different Russian news agencies. His successor Vladimir Urin, who since 1995 has headed the Musical Theater of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, said at yesterday’s press conference that he initially refused the…
Bolshoi Theatre’s Nikolai Tsiskaridze, fearing dismissal from the company, refuses to communicate with the press without permission from the Bolshoi’s spokesman Katerina Novikova. Tsiskaridze was asked to comment on the fact that the Bolshoi Theatre will not renew the contract with the acting head of the trade union Ruslan Pronin, but Tsiskaridze refused: If Novikova, our…
Sergei Filin had been receiving intimidating phone calls for a while, and had had his tyres punctured and his email hacked, but the acid attack that has shocked the dance world is beyond all reasoning. While police are not ruling out a personal vendetta, it is almost certainly an attack by someone who wants him…
Nobody likes to be belittled, and Russia’s biggest theatre is no exception. The Bolshoi is in the midst of a massive row over ballet superstar Nikolay Tsiskaridze‘s sacking: rumour has it the iconic theatre did not take kindly to his critical remarks. Tsiskaridze, who is one of Russia’s most celebrated artists, has received official notice…
Nikolay Tsiskaridze has zigzagged the world with the Bolshoi Theater and been a regular in the Big Apple. The dancer told RT he could not believe his eyes when he saw the city in ruins. “I remember the day very well, because I actually came back from New York on the eve, on the 8th…
Swan Lake’s Rothbart is an extraordinary important character; his power and evilness must be believable if we are to empathise with poor Odette. Yet often the role is almost laughable in its insignificance or its hammy “baddie” acting with lots of cape swishing. The La Scala production for a few years – the Vladimir Bourmeister choreography with Roberta Guidi di Bagno’s dreary sets…
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