Nicholas Georgiadis

Nicholas Georgiadis
Born	September 14, 1923 Athens
Died	March 10, 2001 London
Field	Scenic design; Costume designer
Training	Slade School of Fine Art
Awards	Order of the British Empire; Evening Standard Awards

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.

Early life

Georgiadis studied architecture 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.

Professional career

In 1955, he won the school’s First Prize for Stage Design, which led to his discovery by Dame Ninette de Valois 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."^[1] 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.

Achievements and Awards

He received the Order of the British Empire 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.

References

1. ^ Georgiadis, Evgenia (2004) Nicholas Georgiadis: Paintings, Stage Designs (1955–2001) Athens: Olkos.

External links

• Obituary by Nadine Meisner, The Independent, 13 March 2001
• Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2001

Persondata
Name	Georgiadis, Nicholas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 September 1923
Place of birth	Athens
Date of death	10 March 2001
Place of death	London