Boris Alexandrovich Pokrovsky (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Борис Александрович Покровский; 23 January 19125 June 2009) was a Russian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

director, best known as the

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

of the Bolshoi Theatre between 1943 and 1982.

Early life

Pokrovsky was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in 1912.

Early career

His first production was a staging of Georges Bizet's '' Carmen'' in Nizny Novgorod. He served as the artistic director of the Bolshoi in 1952-1963 and 1973-1982 and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1961. His production of

Vano Muradeli Vano Muradeli ( ka, ვანო მურადელი; russian: Вано Ильич Мурадели; in Gori – 14 August 1970, in Tomsk), was a Soviet Georgian composer. He was born in Gori, Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia) t ...

's opera ''

The Great Friendship ''The Great Friendship'' ( Russian: ''Великая дружба'' Velikaya druzhba; also called ''The Extraordinary Commissar'') is a 1947 opera by Vano Muradeli, to a libretto by Georgi Mdivani. It was premiered in Donetsk (then known as Stalino ...

'' was the target of the second Zhdanov Ukase (1948), and it was he who first staged

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

's ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'', in 1946. He took this opera to Italy for its first full staging there, in 1964. In 1965 in Moscow he directed the first Russian-language production of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''.

Career

In 1972 Pokrovsky founded the Moscow Chamber Opera Theater with

Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Рожде́ственский; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. ...

, and he produced operas such as Igor Stravinsky's ''

The Rake's Progress ''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings '' A Rake's Prog ...

'',

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

's ''

Life with an Idiot ''Life with an Idiot'' () is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke to a Russian libretto by Viktor Erofeyev. Written as an allegory of oppression under the Soviet Union, the opera was first performed at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, o ...

'', and in 1974 the first Soviet production of Dmitri Shostakovich's '' The Nose'' since 1929. In 1975 he took the Bolshoi Theatre on its first American tour.

Awards and honors

Pokrovsky's many awards include four

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

s (1947, 1948, 1949, 1950), a Lenin Prize (1980), two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(1967, 1976),

Order For Merit to the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

of 3rd (1997), 2nd (2002) and 1st (2007) degree, as well as two State Prizes (1995, 2004).

Family

He was the father of actress

Alla Pokrovskaya Alla Borisovna Pokrovskaya (russian: А́лла Бори́совна Покро́вская; 18 September 1937 – 25 June 2019) was a Soviet-Russian actress and educator. Life Pokrovskaya was born in Moscow her father was the opera director ...

, father-in-law of Mariya Lemesheva, and the grandfather of actor Mikhail Yefremov. His second wife was the soprano Irina Maslennikova.

Death

Boris Pokrovsky died in Moscow in 2009.Борис Александрович Покровский. Биографическая справка
/ref>

Notes

1912 births 2009 deaths Russian opera directors People's Artists of the USSR Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class Musicians from Moscow Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Soviet opera directors {{Opera-bio-stub