The giant of the twentieth century Theater left

Theodoros Terzopoulos* about Yuri Lyubimov

I feel deep sorrow in connection with the death of my friend and colleagues Yuri Lyubimov. We met him thirty years ago - then I invited him to take part in the International Festival in Delphi. He put the "birds" of Aristophanes with young actors. It was a very successful performance. Until now, the actors recall how important a meeting with this master was for them.

Thus began my great friendship with Yuri Lyubimov and his family. In the delfs, we had the idea to establish the theater Olympics. Lyubimov entered the International Committee of the Theater Olympiad, I immediately invited Heiner Müller, Tadashi Suzuki, Bob Wilson, Tony Harisson. We created the Olympics to help the theater of our time. For the first time, such large masters of the theater from different countries, representing such different styles, gathered together. All this time I turned to Yuri for advice. I really trusted him and his exceptional organizational abilities, as well as his theatrical concepts. We began in 1995, and since then Yuri took part in all theater Olympiads, including in the third, which was held in Moscow in 2001 - very well organized and very successful. In November, the sixth theater Olympics will be held in Beijing. Within its framework, the performance of Lyubimov “Demons” will be shown.

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Yuri Lyubimov is one of the highest Russian directors equal to Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Vakhtangov ...

“Yuri is one of the giants of the twentieth century Theater. And in the twenty -first century, he entered, remaining a giant. He brought new ideas to the Russian and world theater, new ways and showed the young creators and showed young creators. Yuri Lyubimov - one of the highest Russian directors, equal to Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Vakhtangov ...

His theatrical ideas influenced many actors and directors around the world. Being one of the highest avant -garde artists, he knew the classics excellently. Therefore, in his work there was an explosion of Russian theatrical tradition. Yuri showed us utopia - when the actor and the viewer, thanks to the theater, can change themselves, their consciousness, and, ultimately, society. The philosophy, teaching and school of Yuri Lyubimov will always be with us as a lighthouse.

I express my condolences to the relatives of Yuri - his wife Katalin, his son Peter - on his own and on behalf of all participants in the theater Olympiad.