Revival designer
People’s Artist of Russia
Born in Leningrad, he graduated from the Cherkasov Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema (I. G. Segal’s class). During his years of study he was invited to take part in the productions of the Kirov Theatre (Mariinsky Theatre) and the Maly Opera Theatre (Mikhailovsky Theatre). Since 1975 he has designed more than 300 productions for various companies.
The list of his works for the Mariinsky Theatre includes the following opera and ballet productions: Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges, Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, Delibes’ “Coppélia”, Adam’s “Giselle”, Stravinsky’s “Mavra”, “Les Noces”, and “Petrushka”, Shchedrin’s “Anna Karenina”, A. Tchaikovsky’s “The Government Inspector”, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Kashchey the Deathless”; for the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia: Levenskiold’s “La Sylphide”, Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina” and “Russian Hamlet” ballet with the choreography by Boris Eifman; for the St.-Petersburg Chamber Opera: Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”, Puccini’s “Tosca”, “Gianni Schicchi”, and “Suor Angelica”; during the recent years he designed the performances for the Boris Eifman State Academic Ballet Theatre. For the Mikhailovsky Theatre he has designed numerous productions, such as: Puccini’s “Gianna Schicci”, Menotti’s “The Medium”, Mitch Leigh’s “Man of La Mancha”, Rogalyov’s “At the Beginning of Your Fate” (staging by A. Petrov), Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and “The Tsar's Bride”, Verdi’s “La traviata”, “Otello”, “Rigoletto” and “Requiem”, Puccini’s “Tosca”, Bizet’s “Carmen”, A. Tchaikovsky’s “The Three Musketeers”, Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”, Kálmán’s “Silva”, Strauss’ “The Bat”, Gounoud’s “Faust”, Petrov’s “Peter the Great” (staged by Gaudasinsky), Asafiev’s “Cinderella”, Strauss’ “Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman)” staged by O. Mukhortova, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, (staged by K. Wagner), Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta” (staged by S. Shepelev), Mechem’s “Tartuffe” (staged by Bashlovkin); Delibes’ “Fadette”, Minkus’ “Don Quixote” and “ La Bayadère”, Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake”, Glazunov’s “Raymonda” (staged by N. Boyarchikov), Herold’s “La Fille mal gardée” (staged and choreographed by O. Vinogradov), Adam’s “Giselle ou les Wilis (staged by N. Dolgushin)”, Khachaturyan’s “Spartacus” (choreographed by G. Kovtun), Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” (staged and choreographed by I. Belsky), “The Nutcracker, or Marie and the Mouse King” (staged by M. Bolshakova), I. Armsheimer’s “La Halte de cavalerie” (choreographed by P. Gusev) and other. He has also designed a number of ballets for the Mikhailovsky Theatre staged by Mikhail Messerer: “Swan Lake” (revived Virsaladze’s scenery), “La Bayadère”, “Don Quixote”, “Class Concert”, “Le Corsaire”, “Laurencia”, (Revived V. Ryndin’s costumes), “Flames of Paris” (revived V. Dmitriev’s scenery), “La Sylphide” (revived S. Solomko’s scenery).
For the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre he designed the following productions: Khachaturyan’s “Cipollino” (staged by G. Mayorov, 2015), Khachaturyan’s “Spartacus” (staged by G. Kovtun, 2016), Adam’s “Giselle ou les Wilis” (staged by N. Dolgushin, 2016), Minkus’ “Don Quixote” (staged by M. Messerer, 2016), Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” (staged by M. Messerer, revival designer after P. Williams’ sketches, 2018), Delibes’ “Coppélia” (staged by M. Messerer, 2018).
Over the years he has cooperated with The Theatre Royal Glasgow, The Greek National Opera, Wielki Theatre in Poland, The Hungarian State Opera House, The National Theater of Korea in Seoul, The National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo, New York City Ballet, The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. The productions designed by Vyacheslav Okunev were presented at La Scala, Arena di Verona, and other venues.