MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian ballet maestro Yuri Grigorovich, considered one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, has died at the age of 98, state media said on Monday.
Grigorovich served as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow from 1964 to 1995. He was famed for his settings of Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible and the Stone Flower, as well as productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker and many other ballets.
Valery Gergiev, head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres, told Izvestia newspaper that Grigorovich was “a legendary figure who will continue to command respect and admiration for decades to come”.
By coincidence, the deaths of Grigorovich and one of his favourite dancers, Yuri Vladimirov, who was 83, were announced on the same day.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by William Maclean)
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