MOSCOW, December 1 General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin wrote a statement of his own free will, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.
“Dear colleagues, we met with you here today due to the fact that I was instructed by the Chairman of the Government to introduce you to the General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Valery Abisalovich Gergiev, due to the fact that the current General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Georgievich Urin wrote a statement of his own free will «- said Golikova at the Bolshoi Theater at the presentation of the new director.
Previously, the Bolshoi Theater refused to comment on information about a possible merger with the Mariinsky Theater. In turn, the special representative of the Russian President for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, explained to journalists that the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters cannot be united, but both institutions can be led by Gergiev.
Last year, President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the laureates awards in the field of culture and art suggested that Gergiev think about creating a joint directorate of the Bolshoi Theater and the Mariinsky Theater. A year later, on May 2 of this year, at a meeting with Putin, Gergiev admitted that he was ready for large-scale tasks in working with theaters, “a thorough analysis of the state of 20-30 theaters in Russia.” He emphasized that he could put maximum effort into solving the theaters’ problems. In addition, Gergiev told the president about the idea of creating four large cultural centers.