VADIM PISAREV
RUSSIA / DONETSK

Artistic director of the Donetsk National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Anatoliy Solovyanenko, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1983, he graduated from the Kiev State Choreographic School with a degree from the Vaganova Choreographic Academy in St. Petersburg (teachers: G. Kirillova, V. Denisenko). In 1984-85, he interned at the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow, teachers: V. Nikonov, R. Struchkova, A. Messerer). In 1991, he interned at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (teachers: I. Kolpakova, V. Semenov). Since 1983, he has been a soloist with the Donetsk Ballet Company.

Winner of prestigious international ballet competitions in Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, and Jackson. From 1992 to 1995, he worked under contract as a leading soloist with the ballet company of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (choreographer and ballet master – Heinz Spoerli). He worked with choreographers Yuri Grigorovich, Boris Eifman, Heinz Spoerli,

Jörg Mannes, etc. He danced classical and contemporary repertoire with ballet companies in the USA, Canada, China, Russia, Germany, France, and Japan. He toured in more than 70 countries. He was personally invited to perform a special program at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Calgary and Seoul.

In 1992, he founded a children's ballet school at the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre – the Vadim Pisarev School of Choreographic Mastery. Since 1994, he has been the founder and director of the International Festival "Stars of World Ballet" in Donetsk. In 1995, he was awarded the UNESCO Prize "Best Dancer in the World." Since 1995, he has been an honorary professor at Donetsk State University. In 1996, commissioned by the Norwegian government, he staged the ballet Peer Gynt and performed the lead role with the Donetsk company at the celebrations commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Norway's first capital, Trondheim.

Among the roles he has performed are leading parts in the ballets Don Quixote, Swan Lake, La Fille Mal Garde, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Walpurgis Night, Paquita, The Sleeping Beauty, Peer Gynt, La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliet, Song of Solomon, etc. As well as parts in modern choreography ballets: Dead-end, Josef Legend, Due, Adagio, Fantasia, Four Kisses, Requiem, Pulcinella, and Polovtsian Dances.