Virsaladze Simon

Virsaladze Simon (1909-1989), Stage designer, born in Tbilisi. In 1931 he graduated from the Academy of Arts in Leningrad and returned to Georgia, where he worked as a scene-painter at Tbilisi State Theater of Opera and Ballet. In Tbilisi he created sets and costumes for Z. Paliashvili’s opera Daisi (1936). In 1937 he was invited to Leningrad, where he designed The Heart of Mountains (A. Balanchivadze, 1938), Laurencia (A. Crain, 1939) and other ballets produced by V. Chabukiani. In 1940-41 and 1954- 62 S. Virsaladze filled the seat of a Chief Designer of Leningrad State Theater of Opera and Ballet (Modern Marrinsky Theatre). There he designed A. Glazunov’s Raimonda (1948, State Prize of the USSR in 1949), D. Kabalevski’s Taras Family (1950, State Prize of the USSR in 1051), P. Tchaikovski’s Swan Lake (1930), Nutcracker (1954), Sleeping Beauty (1959). He closely collaborated with choreographer I. Grigorovich. In the Bolshoy Theater in Moscow they co-produced A. Khachaturian’s Spartacus (1968, Lenin Prize in 1970), A. Eshpai’s Angara (State Prize of the USSR in 1977), etc. The costumes designed by S. Virsaladze, contributed to the world-wide success of Georgian National Ballet of I. Sukhishvili and N. Ramishvili. His creative work was instrumental in shaping up of a new stage in the development of theatrical-decorative art. He was a Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1975).

S. Virsaladze died in Tbilisi. He was buried at Didube Pantheon.