Opera Scotland

Georges Wakhevitch Suggest updates

Georgy Vakhevich.

Born Odessa, 5/18 August 1907.

Died Paris, 11 February 1984.

Russian (later French) designer.

Georges Wakhevitch moved to Paris in 1920, soon after the Revolution. He had a notable international career as a designer in cinema and theatre, as well as opera, and worked for most of the major houses, including Salzburg, La Scala and the Verona arena.

At Covent Garden he prepared four stagings that stayed in the repertoire for many revivals over nearly thirty years. The first of these was Peter Brook's 1948 staging of Boris Godunov. That was followed by Tales of Hoffmann, then in 1955 by Otello. and the first British production of Dialogues of the Carmelites (1958). Two sets of costumes were borrowed by Scottish Opera in its early years.