Nicholas Georgiadis
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Georgiadis CBE
(14 September 1923, Athens
– 10 March 2001, London
) was a painter
, stage
and costume designer
, renowned for his work in ballet
, particularly in collaboration with Kenneth MacMillan
.
at the National Metsovian University
, receiving his degree in 1946, and later won a Fulbright Post-Graduate Scholarship
to Columbia University
, New York (1952). The following year, he came to London to study Painting and Stage Design at the Slade School of Fine Art
, on a grant from the British Council
.
and his commission to design for the Sadler's Wells Theatre
, London. This marked the beginning of a professional partnership between Georgiadis and Kenneth MacMillan that was to last for almost four decades.
From 1956, to his death in 2001, Georgiadis worked on some of the most acclaimed productions in ballet, opera
and theatre. For MacMillan, he designed a great number of ballets, including Noctambules
(1956), Romeo and Juliet
(1965), Manon
(1974), Mayerling
(1978), Orpheus (1982) and The Prince of the Pagodas (1989). Many of these productions continue to be performed to this day, both at the Royal Opera House
, London, and internationally. He also collaborated closely with Rudolf Nureyev
on such works as Sleeping Beauty (1966), The Nutcracker
(1968), The Tempest
(1982) and Michael Conway Baker
's Washington Square (1985).
Sir John Tooley
, former General Director of the Royal Opera House (1970–1988), described him as "one of the most outstanding stage designers of the past century ... a giant and a poet amongst designers [who] dominated the second half of the twentieth century in the way that Léon Bakst
and Alexandre Benois
had done in the first part."
Georgiadis worked actively up until his death on 10 March 2001 in London. He never married.
Outside his work in the theatre, he was an accomplished painter who had exhibited in Venice and London. He also had a passion for cinema and worked on a number of film projects, the most famous of which is The Trojan Women
(1971), starring Katharine Hepburn
, Vanessa Redgrave
and Irene Papas
.
for his contribution to the arts in 1984. He had been awarded the London Evening Standard Ballet Award
the previous year for his work on Orpheus and The Tempest — the first time a designer had received this outstanding achievement award. In 1999, he was admitted to the Greek Academy of Arts.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(14 September 1923, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
– 10 March 2001, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, stage
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
and costume designer
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...
, renowned for his work in ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, particularly in collaboration with Kenneth MacMillan
Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...
.
Early life
Georgiadis studied architectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at the National Metsovian University
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
, receiving his degree in 1946, and later won a Fulbright Post-Graduate Scholarship
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York (1952). The following year, he came to London to study Painting and Stage Design at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, on a grant from the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
.
Professional career
In 1955, he won the school’s First Prize for Stage Design, which led to his discovery by Dame Ninette de ValoisNinette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet...
and his commission to design for the Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
, London. This marked the beginning of a professional partnership between Georgiadis and Kenneth MacMillan that was to last for almost four decades.
From 1956, to his death in 2001, Georgiadis worked on some of the most acclaimed productions in ballet, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and theatre. For MacMillan, he designed a great number of ballets, including Noctambules
Noctambules
Noctambules is a ballet created in 1956 by Kenneth MacMillan for the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The ballet was choreographed to Humphrey Searle's Noctambules, Op. 30 written for the ballet. The set and costumes were designed by Nicholas Georgiadis...
(1956), Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets...
(1965), Manon
L'histoire de Manon
L'histoire de Manon is a ballet comprising the music of Jules Massenet, arranged and partially orchestrated by British composer Leighton Lucas, re-orchestrated entirely by conductor Martin Yates in 2011...
(1974), Mayerling
Mayerling (ballet)
Mayerling is a ballet created in 1978 by Kenneth MacMillan for the Royal Ballet, London.- Synopsis :Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria is forced into a marriage of state with Princess Stéphanie of Belgium; Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich, the mistress of whom he is tiring, introduces him to the...
(1978), Orpheus (1982) and The Prince of the Pagodas (1989). Many of these productions continue to be performed to this day, both at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, London, and internationally. He also collaborated closely with Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
on such works as Sleeping Beauty (1966), The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
(1968), The Tempest
The Tempest (Tchaikovsky)
The Tempest , Symphonic Fantasia after Shakespeare, Op. 18, is a symphonic poem in F minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed in 1873. It was premiered in December 1873, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein....
(1982) and Michael Conway Baker
Michael Conway Baker
Michael Conway Baker is a Canadian composer and music educator of American birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1970 and has resided more or less continuously in the Vancouver area since....
's Washington Square (1985).
Sir John Tooley
John Tooley
Sir John Tooley is a former general director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. He has also held a range of appointments in the musical world, serving as a trustee or board member for many organisations....
, former General Director of the Royal Opera House (1970–1988), described him as "one of the most outstanding stage designers of the past century ... a giant and a poet amongst designers [who] dominated the second half of the twentieth century in the way that Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst
Léon Samoilovitch Bakst was a Russian painter and scene- and costume designer. He was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes...
and Alexandre Benois
Alexandre Benois
Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois , an influential artist, art critic, historian, preservationist, and founding member of Mir iskusstva , an art movement and magazine...
had done in the first part."
Georgiadis worked actively up until his death on 10 March 2001 in London. He never married.
Outside his work in the theatre, he was an accomplished painter who had exhibited in Venice and London. He also had a passion for cinema and worked on a number of film projects, the most famous of which is The Trojan Women
The Trojan Women (film)
The Trojan Women is a 1971 film, directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Katharine Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave. The film was made with the minimum of changes to Edith Hamilton's translation of Euripides' original play, written in 415 B.C., although Cacoyannis said: "We left out the Gods, as...
(1971), starring Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
and Irene Papas
Irene Papas
Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...
.
Achievements and Awards
He received the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for his contribution to the arts in 1984. He had been awarded the London Evening Standard Ballet Award
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
the previous year for his work on Orpheus and The Tempest — the first time a designer had received this outstanding achievement award. In 1999, he was admitted to the Greek Academy of Arts.
External links
- Obituary by Nadine Meisner, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 13 March 2001 - Obituary, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 17 March 2001