What is Vladimir Urin, who resigned as head of the Bolshoi Theater, famous for?

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin dismissed Vladimir Urin from the post of general director of the Bolshoi Theater. Details of his biography are in the Kommersant certificate.

Urin Vladimir Georgievich was born on March 19, 1947 in Kirov. In 1971 he graduated from the directing department of the Leningrad State Institute of Culture, and in 1985 from the theater studies department of the State Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS-RATI).

In 1971–1973 he served in the Soviet army. In 1973 he directed the Kirov Theater for Young Spectators. In 1981 he moved to Moscow, where he headed the Cabinet of Children’s and Puppet Theaters of the All-Russian Theater Society (now the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation; STD). In 1984 he became a member of the organizing committee of the World Congress of the International Association of Theaters for Children and Youth. From 1987 to 1996, he was twice elected to the post of secretary of the STD board. In addition, he served as deputy chairman.

In 1988 he created the annual seminar of playwrights “Author’s Stage”. Conducted the international festival of theater schools “Podium” (1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995) and the Soviet-American theatrical and environmental festival “Baikal-Michigan” in Ulan-Ude (1990).

In 1993 he became one of the founders of the Golden Mask theater award. From 1995 to 2013, he was general director of the Stanislavsky Musical Theatre. Since 1997, he has been the head of international contemporary dance festivals, held jointly with embassies and cultural centers of Europe, Canada and the USA. In 1999 he received the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Since 2009 he has been teaching at the Moscow Art Theater School. On July 9, 2013, he took up the post of General Director of the Bolshoi Theater.

In 2013–2015, he was a member of the public council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In 2014, he signed a letter in support of President Vladimir Putin’s position on Ukraine and Crimea. He was a confidant of the United Russia party in the State Duma elections in 2016.

In 2017, the Bolshoi Theater prepared a ballet performance “Nureyev” directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, which became notorious – at first its launch in July was unexpectedly canceled by the director of the theater, and later the director of the project found himself under house arrest in an embezzlement case. The premiere took place only six months later.

In 2018, Mr. Urin became a member of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art. On February 26, 2022, along with other theater figures, he signed a letter calling to stop the Russian special operation in Ukraine.

He was awarded the Russian Order of Honor (2017), the French Order of the Legion of Honor (2014), the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, III degree (2019), and the Russian Federation badge “For Contribution to Russian Culture” (2018). Honorary citizen of the Kirov region since 2014.

Winner of the Stanislavsky Prize (2014), “Figaro” named after Andrei Mironov (2017) and “Crystal Turandot” (2022).