Ivan Popovski
Distinguished Cultural Worker of Russia
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Larisa Gerasimchuk |
Ivan Popovski was born in 1969 in Skopje, Macedonia. In 1988, he entered the Directing Department of GITIS, joining Pyotr Fomenko’s workshop. He spoke no Russian when he enrolled, but learned the language in just three months. He graduated from GITIS in 1993 and was one of the founders of the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop theatre.
While still in his second year at GITIS, he began work on “The Adventure”, based on a play by Marina Tsvetaeva. The production premiered in 1991. Popovski subsequently worked in drama, opera and musical-poetic theatre, both in Russia and abroad. In 2001, during the armed interethnic conflict in Macedonia, he directed Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” with an Albanian actor.
Ivan Popovski is Deputy Artistic Director of the Yelena Kamburova Theatre of Music and Poetry. He also teaches at GITIS: in 2017, he and Rimas Tuminas jointly established a new workshop at the Faculty of Musical Theatre; in 2022, he began leading a second intake. In 2025, together with Galina Tyunina and Kirill Pirogov, he established a new workshop at the Acting Faculty.
- Productions at the Bolshoi Theatre
- “War and Peace” by Sergei Prokofiev (2005)
- “Moscow, Cheryomushki” by Dmitri Shostakovich (2021)
- Productions at the Yelena Kamburova Theatre of Music and Poetry
- «P. S. Dreams…», based on songs by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann (2003)
- “Absinthe” — a hallucinatory concert (2005)
- «Seasons… Years…» (2008)
- “Drops of the Danish King“
- “Earth“
- “Victory. Requiem”
- „Absurd, Funny, Reckless”
- „TERRA GUERRA. Capriccio”
- «St Petersburg — Petrograd — Leningrad»
- “Barbara“
- Productions at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre
- „The Tsar’s Bride” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (2003)
- “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi (2005)
- “Carmen” by Georges Bizet (2007)
- “Boris Godunov” by Modest Mussorgsky (2012)
- Productions at the Vakhtangov Theatre
- “An Ordinary Miracle” by Evgeny Schwartz (2023)
- Productions at Other Russian Theatres
- “The Mask Maker” by Fernand Crommelynck, Alla Sigalova Independent Company (1992) — graduation production
- “Pugachev”, based on works by Alexander Pushkin and Sergei Yesenin, Fifth Theatre, Omsk (1998)
- “Where I Have Never Been“, Sixth American Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre
- „An Ordinary Miracle”, musical, Dubrovka Theatre Centre (2010)
- Productions Abroad
- “The Bathhouse”, based on Vladimir Mayakovsky, Phoenix Theatre, New York, USA (1993)
- “Eugene Onegin” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Lille Opera House, France (1997)
- “Faust and Helen” by Yury Yurchenko, Maubeuge, France (1998)
- “Hotel Europe”, international project, Austria — Sweden (2000)
- «mACEDOINE — Odyssey 2001», Ohrid Theatre Festival, Macedonia (2001)
- “Diary of a Madman” by Nikolai Gogol, Macedonia (2001)
- “The Idiot”, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky, Zagreb Youth Theatre, Croatia (2012)
- “The Master and Margarita”, based on Mikhail Bulgakov, Macedonian National Theatre (2015)
- Awards and Honours:
- “Nail of the Season“ Award for „The Adventure” (1992)
- Honorary title of Ambassador of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia to the Russian Federation (2007)
- Pushkin Medal for his contribution to strengthening Russian-Macedonian relations and promoting the Russian language and culture (2008)
- Moscow City Prize for Literature and the Arts, Musical Arts category — awarded to Ivan Popovski and the company of the Yelena Kamburova Theatre of Music and Poetry for the trilogy «P. S. Dreams…», “Absinthe” and «Seasons… Years…» (2009)
- “Musical Heart of Theatre” National Award for «Seasons… Years…» (2009)
- “Crystal Turandot” Theatre Award for «Seasons… Years…» (2009)
- Nomination for the Golden Mask National Theatre Award in the Drama — Best Director category for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (2016)
- Honoured Arts Worker of the Russian Federation (2024)
- “Theatre Star“ Audience Choice Award, Best Director, for „An Ordinary Miracle” (2024)
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