Management

Principal Ballet Master

Igor Kolb

Honored Artist of Russia  (2009)

Igor Kolb graduated from the Belarusian State Choreographic College. From 1996 to 2022, he served at the Mariinsky Theatre (soloist since 1998). He won special renown with his roles in lyrico-romantic repertoire. His partners include such famous ballerinas as Ulyana Lopatkina, Diana Vishneva, Zhanna Ayupova, Svetlana Zakharova, Irma Nioradze and Daria Pavlenko.

Igor Kolb is the winner of numerous international ballet competitions and a guest star of the international festivals "Dance open", "Kings of Dance", "World Ballet Stars" and "World Ballet Virtuosos". The artist has toured with the Mariinsky Theatre in Russia and abroad.

He made his debut as Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty (Rudolf Nureyev’s version) at the Opera di Roma in 2002 and as Siegfried in Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev’s version) at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2006. In 2007, he appeared in Andrei Moguchy and Alexei Kononov’s project “Silenzio. Diana Vishneva”. In 2009, a gala concert featuring world ballet stars "Igor Kolb and Friends" took place in Tokyo. That same year, the artist performed famous duets from the ballet Proust in the farewell tour of the famous Japanese ballerina Tamiyo Kusakari.

In 2009, choreographer Radu Poklitaru staged a one-act ballet Two for the Seesaw specially for Igor Kolb.

His repertoire includes:

La Sylphide (James, Madge), choreography by August Bournonville, Elsa-Marianne von Rosen’s version;

Giselle (Albrecht, Hans), choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa;

Le Corsaire (Ali), production by Pyotr Gusev after the composition and choreography of Marius Petipa;

Grand pas from Paquita, choreography by Marius Petipa;

Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried), choreography by Marius Petipa, Konstantin Sergeyev’s version;

The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Désiré), choreography by Marius Petipa, revival of the 1890 production;

The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Désiré, Carabosse), choreography by Marius Petipa, Konstantin Sergeyev’s version;

La Bayadère (Solor), choreography by Marius Petipa, revival of the 1900 production;

Raymonda (Béranger), choreography by Marius Petipa, Konstantin Sergeyev’s version;

Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana (Nocturne, Mazurka, Seventh Waltz), Le Spectre de la rose, Scheherazade (the Slave);

George Balanchine’s Symphony in C (I. Allegro vivo), Scotch Symphony, Piano Concerto No 2 (Ballet Imperial), Pas de Deux to Tchaikovsky’s music, Jewels (Diamonds) and Apollo (the title role);

The Nutcracker (the Prince), choreography by Vasily Vainonen;

Romeo and Juliet (Romeo, Tybalt, Troubadour), choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky;

Leonid Yakobson's ballets Shurale (the title role), Spartacus (Marcus Crassus, Athenian Jester); The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Vaslav), choreography by Rostislav Zakharov;

 Yuri Grigorovich's ballet The Stone Flower (Severian), The Legend of Love (Ferkhad),

 Leningrad Symphony (Youth), choreography by Igor Belsky;

Alexei Ratmansky’s ballets The Little Humpbacked Horse (Gentleman of the Bedchamber), Cinderella (the Prince);

In the Night (2nd duet), choreography by Jerome Robbins;

The Nutcracker (Drosselmeyer), choreography by Kirill Simonov, staging by Mihail Chemiakin;

William Forsythe’s ballets Steptext and In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated;

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (Cléonte), choreography by Nikita Dmitrievsky;

Le Divertissement du roi, choreography by Maxim Petrov;

Radu Poklitaru's ballets The Dying Swan and Two for the Seesaw, duet from the ballet The Rain;

Beginning, choreography by Vladimir Varnava;

Autumn Colours, choreography by Yevgeny Panfilov;

Pas de six from La Esmeralda.

Successfully combining artistic and teaching activities at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy and St Petersburg State Conservatory, Igor Kolb was also engaged in production and educational projects.

He is the artistic director of the project "Dance. Dance. Dance", the initiator and chairman of the organizing committee and jury member of the Open Art Festival in Veliky Novgorod.

In 2022, Igor Kolb was appointed principal ballet master of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. His productions at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus include:

September 2022: Adolphe Adam’s Giselle (choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa, Igor Kolb). He staged Pas de deux from Act I (previously, choreographers didn’t use this piece of Adam’s music; Vyacheslav Kuznetsov is author of the instrumentation).

December 2023: Illusions of Love to the music by Dmitri Shostakovich, Frédéric Chopin, Leonid Shirin (libretto, choreography and staging by Igor Kolb)