Two years ago, at the age of 56 died enexpectedly an Honored artist of Russia Sergey Viharev. Named “the heir of St. – Petersburg dance traditions”, he held a position of a chief ballet master in the period since 1999 till 2006 at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet theatre.
The graduate of Vaganova Ballet Academy was not only known for the amount of parts performed as the principal dancer of the Mariinsky theatre. He has many times participated in the ballets of Boris Eifman, Alexander Polubentsev, Vladimir Karelin, and also danced for the independent company of Alla Sigalova. In 1995, when he started to work as a ballet master, he was one of the first to recompose the ancient ballets and to revive the Russian Imperial ballet with all its scope and splendor. As a man who worked a lot with the archives he paid a special reverence for the Russian ballet classics while rebuilding piece by piece the works of Marius Petipa and Mikhail Fokin.
Many performance were staged under his direction at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet theatre: “The Sleeping Beauty” (1996, choreography by M. Petipa, revised version by K. Sergeev); “The Nutcracker” of Tchaikovsky (1998, choreographed by L. Ivanov, V. Vaynonen and his own); “Bournonville’s Conservatoire, or Caprices of a Ballet Master” (1998, after August Bournonville, revised version by Elsa Marianne von Rosen); “Giselle” (1999, choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa), “Coppélia” (2001, revival of the Mariinsky Theatre’s 1894 production); “Don Quixote” (2003, after Alexander Gorsky and Fyodor Lopukhov); Michel Fokine’s ballets “Chopiniana” (2000), “Polovtsian Dances” from the “Prince Igor” opera (2000), “Le Carnaval and Schéhérazade” (2001) and dances in the “Aida” opera (2004, directed by Dmitry Chernyakov).
The artists of the Novosibirsk ballet company speak of him as a farsighted, thoughtful and talented tutor. The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet theatre team grieves for the loss of Segrey Vikharev and conveys sincere condolences for his friends and relatives.
