Oleg Vinogradov is a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, choreographer, screenwriter, teacher, set designer. Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize and the State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. I. Glinka was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation.
Oleg Mikhailovich grew up as an extremely gifted child. He painted beautifully, had great vocals. However, he came to ballet quite late.
The beginning of the creative path
The biography of the famous master began in 1937. The future figure was born on August 1 in Leningrad. The father died at the front, the boy was raised by his mother alone. Since the parent was at work all the time, working in three shifts at the factory, the son was often left to himself.
He enrolled in all circles, danced, participated in concerts, his drawings were taken to all exhibitions. Oleg could not choose any direction in one type of creativity. Acquaintance with the art of choreography began at the Palace of Pioneers. On its stage, Vinogradov performed a Korean dance. At that time, the young artist had no idea where this country was located. Moreover, he could not even imagine that someday Korea would become an important part of his life.
In 1958 he graduated from the choreographic school in his hometown. A. I. Pushkin was his teacher. The ballet career began in Novosibirsk. On the stage of the local opera and ballet theater, Vinogradov performed for seven years. He was the first performer of the role of Chang-Hsiang in the 1959 ballet The Precious Lotus Lantern. From 1963 to 1968 he worked as an assistant ballet master, and then as a ballet master and theater designer.
He staged numbers for the play "Seven Beauties", created a new version of the first picture "Swan Lake". New heights The artist decided to get an education at the ballet master department of the capital's GITIS. He graduated from Vinogradov in 1967. As a choreographer of the Kirov Theater, he staged from 1967 to 1972 the classical productions of Coppelia, La Bayadère, Vain Precaution. He created completely new versions of ballet.
One of these performances was "Goryanka" based on Dagestan folklore. In the creative range, the satirical "Inspector General" to the music of Alexander Tchaikovsky with the historical "Alexander Nevsky" based on Prokofiev's cantata and the performance based on Rozhdestvensky's poem "Two" freely coexist.
From 1973 to 1977, Oleg Mikhailovich worked in Leningrad as chief choreographer at the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater, until 2001 he was artistic director of the ballet troupe and chief choreographer of the city theater of opera and ballet. S. M. Kirov. As a set designer, he designed several performances. He created sketches of costumes for Levenscheld's ballet "La Sylphide".
Confession
Oleg Mikhailovich acted as a director in the eighties in films-performances "Le Corsaire", "Giselle", "Sleeping Beauty". He took part in the work on three documentaries. In 1988, he showed himself as a screenwriter while working on the TV movie-concert "Grand Pas on a White Night".
Thanks to the work of Oleg Mikhailovich, the boundaries of ballet art have noticeably expanded. He decided to abandon the traditional forms that are customary in the genre of accurate timing of numbers. The composer received complete creative freedom. Vinogradov drew attention to The Lay of Igor's Host.
Unlike the famous opera, everything is focused on Yaroslavna. As conceived by the choreographer, she became both a generalized image of both the homeland and the Russian woman. The composer Tishchenko introduced the choir to the ballet score, performing fragments of an old Russian poem. The large-scale choreosymphony turned out to be unusual. However, the audience received her in 1976 very warmly. Criticism gave the creativity high marks.
Vinogradov not only became the author of the script, but also acted as a designer. A new performance by Oleg Mikhailovich "Pedagogical Poem" has also become innovative. At the same time, the choreographer never forgot that beauty lies at the heart of ballet. However, in his opinion, a ballet performance should evoke not only emotions when admiring, but also thoughts, since the genre is not devoid of intellectual potential.
Significant works
In 1990, the master, at the invitation of George W. Bush, worked in Washington as artistic director of the Universal Ballet Academy. At the same time, he headed the Universal Ballet troupe as artistic director in Seoul. He led the team of Vinogradov for two decades. He was amazed that in a small country, the territory of which can be crossed in a matter of hours, there are 11 ballet and opera houses.
At the same time, he saw world-class theaters even in provincial towns. In 1991, Oleg Mikhailovich created the Small Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater, which in 1994 was renamed the St. Petersburg Chamber Ballet.
After almost twenty years of staying abroad, Vinogradov returned to Russia. In St. Petersburg, he became the chief guest choreographer at the Mikhailovsky Theater. All the performances staged by him are distinguished by their scale, staginess, a virtuoso combination of characteristic and classical dance, emotionality.
New facets of talent
Since 2009, the master has held the post of dean of the faculty of directing musical theater, became artistic director of the ballet of the Opera and Ballet Theater of the St. Petersburg Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakov. The master's personal life was also happily settled.
Vinogradov is married. The family has a child, son Artem. From early childhood, the boy was interested in history, ancient civilizations. He independently learned Arabic at the age of 5.
In 2007, the maestro published The Confessions of a Choreographer. The book is a story about the personal life and profession of a choreographer. The author lifted the veil of secrecy over the creative process and the world of intrigue behind the scenes.
A fascinating story tells about meetings with the most interesting personalities of the era, numerous hobbies, difficult relationships with famous ballerinas, whose love helped the writer in life.
