Date: 06.06.2019

On 23 January 2019, in the Readers Museum at the Russian State Art Library (RSAL) the author Natalia Burmeister-Tchaikovsky, daughter of the famous choreographer and her co-author, the famous ballet historian Irina Deshkova, presented their books about the outstanding choreographer Vladimir Burmeister (1904-1971).

Ballet lovers, family friends, veteran ballet dancers, young dancers, and library readers all gathered for the evening.

In the preface to the book That Burmeister!, Burmeister-Tchaikovsky wrote that she decided to tell about her father not only because she loved him and is proud of him, but because he was gifted and outstanding.

In her memoirs, which she shared with those gathered at RSAL’s Readers Museum that evening, were childhood impressions, stories about her father’s creativity, family history, and the family’s intertwined relationship with Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Rare 1940-1950s films of Vladimir Burmeister served as unique illustrations.

The evening also featured actress Victoria Lepko, who recalled the amazing relationships in the Burmeister family; and Arkady Nikolaev, the stage veteran-lead ballet dancer of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, who spoke about his work with Vladimir Burmeister creating ballet performances.

An entire epoch of the theatre is connected with the name Vladimir Burmeister, who for nearly 30 years was the principal choreographer of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. He was the first Soviet choreographer to break through the Iron Curtain, presenting Swan Lake at the Grand Opera in Paris in 1960.

Vladimir Burmeister was a reader at RSAL, formerly the famous Teatralka. One of the showcases in the Readers Museum, the “Bolshoi Ballet in the Library” is dedicated to Vladimir Burmeister and presents rare materials about his work stored in the library’s collections.

The participants warmly thanked Natalya Burmeister for her tremendous work that led to the publishing of the books that will help restore the unjustly forgotten name of a talented choreographer, whose performances are still conducted not only in Russia but abroad.