Director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre resigns

The director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, Vladimir Urin, announced his resignation in a speech to theatre staff on Thursday, following weeks of rumours about his planned early departure.

“Today I am saying goodbye to you, as today is my last day working at the Bolshoi Theatre,” Urin said in a video that was posted on Telegram.

The current director of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev, is being considered as Urin’s replacement, Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing a source familiar with the situation. Telegram channel SHOT reported that Urin himself would announce Gergiev’s appointment on Friday.

Urin was appointed to the role in 2013, and his contract hadn’t been due to expire until 2027. The Bolshoi Theatre has declined to comment on the matter.

During his decade-long tenure as director of Russia’s best-known and most prestigious theatre, Urin has faced numerous controversies, including the postponement and, ultimately, the removal from the repertoire of the ballet Nurreyev, about the gay ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

Having signed an open letter in support of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, in February last year Urin was among the cultural figures who added their names to a letter calling for an end to hostilities in Ukraine.