Simon Virsaladze

Born Dec. 31, 1908 (Jan. 13, 1909), in Tbilisi. Soviet costume and stage de-signer. People’s Artist of the USSR (1957) and of the Georgian SSR (1958). Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958).

Virsaladze studied at the Moscow State Higher Institute of Art and Technology with I. M. Rabinovich (1927-28) and at the Leningrad Academy of Arts with M. P. Bobyshov (1928-31). He has done work for the Z. Paliashvili Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tbilisi, where he was principal artist from 1932 to 1936; the productions he worked on include Z. Paliashvili’s opera Daisi (1936) and A. Machavariani’s ballet Othello (1957). At the S. M. Kirov Theater of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad, where he was principal artist in 1940-41 and from 1945 to 1962, he designed for D. B. Kabalevskii’s opera The Family ofTaras (1950; State Prize of the USSR, 1951), Mozart’s opera Don Juan (1956), Wagner’s opera Lohengrin (1962), A. A. Krein’s ballet Laurencia (1939), A. K. Glazunov’s ballet Raymonda (1948; State Prize of the USSR, 1949), and S. S. Prokofiev’s ballet The Stone Flower (1957). At the Bol’shoi Theater of the USSR, Virsaladze worked on P. I. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (1966) and A. Khachaturian’s Spartacus (1968; Lenin Prize, 1970), among others. Color plays a major role in his work, as it corresponds to the emotional palette of the music and the meaning of the action. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders.