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Drawing on brand new archival research, Simon Morrison creates a richly textured tableau of the Bolshoi Ballet and its integral role in Russian history. He reveals the part the celebrated principles play in this centuries long, spectacular war among the deeply held interests of politicians, oligarchs and the populace.

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On 17 January 2013, a hooded assailant threw acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. Pavel Dmitrichenko, a lead dancer, later confessed to organising the crimemotivated by an institutional power struggleand has since been sentenced to six years in a labour camp. Renowned music and dance historian Simon Morrison reveals in his definitive history of the Bolshoi Ballet that this kind of passion, drama and even violence has always been a part of the Bolshois history. Beginning with its inception in 1776, Morrison covers the turbulent years of the revolutionwhen the once lavish theatre became an emblem and meeting place for the Communist Partyto todays renovation project seeking to restore the Bolshoi to its former glory and forestall reports of bribery, prostitution and embezzlement.

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Simon Morrison is an award-winning contributor to The New York Times and The New York Review of Books and the author of Lena and Serge. He is a Professor of Music at Princeton University.

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