Elena Zaitseva

Biography

Born in Saint-Petersburg. In 1991, she completed her studies at the faculty of theatre production at the Saint-Petersburg Academy of Theatre Art. She started work with Lenfilm Studios and was assistant costume designer on the following films: The House on Sand, Dreams of Russia; The Mission (director — A. Negrin), Khrustalyov Car Please! (director Alexei German).

Then, as costume designer, she worked on the following films: The Time for Grief has not yet Come (director S. Selyanov), The Principled and Compassionate View of Al K (director A. Sukhochev). Parallel to her work in cinema, she worked in theatre as designer-technologist on the productions of Die Fledermaus (Novosibirsk, designer M. Azizyan) and Red Giselle (Saint-Petersburg, Boris Eifman Theatre, designer V. Okunev).

In 1997, she became costume designer for the Mariinsky Theatre. As designer-technologist, she participated in all the productions for this period including, among others, Parsifal, The Queen of Spades, The Marriage of Figaro; and as costume designer she worked on The Flying Dutchman and the Sergei Vikharev’s historical version of The Sleeping Beauty. At the same time, she created costumes for dramatic productions of Anouilh’s The Lark and Holy Monsters for The Youth Theatre on the Fontanka, St. Petersburg.

In 2001, she began to work in Moscow for the New Opera Company.

In 2003, she joined the Bolshoi Theatre as chief specialist in the design, production and exploitation of theatre costumes. She did the costume designs for the Bolshoi Theatre operas Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (2004), Wozzeck (2009), Don Giovanni (together with Dmitri Tchernyakov, 2010), Ruslan and Lyudmila (2011), The Tsar’s Bride (2014) and ballets Le Corsaire (2007), Grand Pas from Paquita (2008), Zakharova Supergame (2009), La Esmeralda (2009), Petrushka (2010), Jewels (2012), A Hero of Our Time by Ilya Demutsky (together with K. Serebrennikov, 2015), Don Quixote (the 2nd A. Fadeyechev version, 2016), Ondine by H. W. Henze (2016).

She constantly collaborates with Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. There she created costumes for such ballets as La Bayadere (2011), Le Conservatoire (2013), Cantus Arcticus (2013), Paquita (2013), Salieri Variations (2013), Nutcracker (2014), La fille mal gardée (2015), Front Curtain (2015).

Among her works with other companies: La Esmeralda (The Berlin State Ballet, 2011), Swan Lake (Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theatre, 2012), Le Corsaire and Giselle (Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, 2008 both), Don Quixote (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, 2016).

She is a constant costume designer for Dmitri Tcherniakov productions such as, among others, Khovanshchina (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, assistant to D. Tcherniakov, 2007), The Gambler (Staatsoper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala (2008, together with Tcherniakov), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Dusseldorf, Macbeth in Novosibirsk and at Opera Bastille (2009, together with Tcherniakov), Dialogues des Carmelites (2010) and Simon Boccanegra (2013) at Bayerische Staatsoper, Simon Boccanegra for London's English National Opera (2011) , Don Giovanni at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (2010, together with Tcherniakov), Simon Boccanegra for London’s English National Opera (2011); The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and of the Maid Fevronia for Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam, 2012), Il Trovatore for the Théâtre de la Monnaie (Belgium), Jenůfa for Zurich Opera, The Tsar’s Bride for Staatsoper Berlin (2013), La raviata at Teatro alla Scala (2013); Don Giovanni (2013) for Teatro Real, Madrid; Prince Igor for Metropolitan Opera (2014), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (English National Opera, 2015: coproduction with Opéra National de Lyon, 2016), Iolanta/ Nutcracker (Opéra National de Paris, 2016), Snow Maiden (Opéra National de Paris, 2017), The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, 2019).