Simon Virsaladze

Simon (Soliko) Virsaladze (Georgian: სოლომონ(სოლიკო) ვირსალაძე) (13 January 1909 – 7 February 1989) was a Georgian and one of the Soviet Union's leading designers of ballet, film and opera.

[1] He also worked as collaborator with the founders of Georgian National Ballet company, Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili, in the creation of classic Georgian costumes.

He was chief designer of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow from 1964 until his death.

For Yury Grigorovich he designed The Stone Flower (1957), Legend of Love (1961), The Sleeping Beauty (1965 and 1973), The Nutcracker (1966), Spartacus (1968), Swan Lake (1969), Ivan the Terrible (1975), Angara (1976), Romeo and Juliet (1979), The Golden Age (1982), and Raymonda (1984).

American reviewers, writing of touring Soviet productions, praised Virsaladze's designs for their grand scale, tastefulness, sensitivity to period and style and for often furthering the action of the ballet.