People’s Artist of the USSR, renowned Russian and Soviet ballet master and dancer Yuri Grigorovich has passed away at the age of 98.

After graduating from the Leningrad Choreography School in 1946, Yuri Nikolaevich joined the ballet company of the Kirov Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (now the Mariinsky Theatre), where he danced until 1961.  It was on this very stage that he created his first productions—works that earned him international acclaim.

However, the defining theatre of Yuri Nikolaevich’s life was the Bolshoi. For over 40 years, he served as its principal choreographer and ballet master. On Russia’s most prestigious stage, he staged eight astounding ballet productions: The Stone Flower, The Legend of Love, The Nutcracker, Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible, Angara, Romeo and Juliet, and The Golden Age. He also produced choreographic revivals of classical ballets that have remained cornerstones of the Bolshoi repertoire for more than half a century.

Several of his masterpieces are part of the repertoire of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. The first collaboration dates back to 2000, with the concert programme ConTourDance, which featured excerpts choreographed by Grigorovich. In 2007, the Krasnoyarsk stage hosted the premiere of one of his signature works, Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus. In Elektra (2012), set to music by Richard Strauss, Grigorovich contributed as the librettist. That same year, the local premiere of The Stone Flower by Sergei Prokofiev was held—a ballet that originally brought the young choreographer his first recognition back in 1957 at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 2018, Krasnoyarsk audiences were treated to his romantic production of Alexander Glazunov’s Raymonda.

Just a few months ago, in October 2024, the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre presented a newly revived version of the beloved ballet Spartacus. The production became a major cultural event in the region, delighting audiences and garnering significant interest from experts.

Yuri Grigorovich’s contributions to Russian culture have been widely recognized at the state level. He was a Hero of Socialist Labour (1986), a recipient of the Order of St. Andrew the Protoclete (2017), and a full holder of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” (2011, 2007, 2002). In total, he was awarded more than 60 honours in Russia and abroad.