George Tsypin

George Tsypin (born December 31, 1954 in Kazakhstan) is an American sculptor, architect and stage designer (opera, ballet, film and video).

Early life and education

Tsypin was born in Kazakhstan, when it was part of the Soviet Union. He studied architecture in Moscow. He studied theater design at New York University after immigrating to the United States in 1979.

Career

Tsypin has worked for many years with renowned directors and composers, such as Julie Taymor, Peter Sellars, Francesca Zambello, Jurgen Flimm, Phillip Glass, John Adams, Elliot Goldenthal and Andrey Konchalovsky. He has a longstanding creative relationship with the conductor Valery Gergiev.

He has won many awards, including the International Competition of "New and Spontaneous Ideas for the Theater for Future Generations".

His designs for opera have been produced all over the world, including Salzburg Festival, Opera de Bastille in Paris, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan and Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera inter alia.

Tsypin has worked in all major theaters in the United States, as well as in film and television.

His sculpture received its first one-man gallery show in 1991 at the Twining Gallery in New York. He created the Planet Earth Gallery, one of the Millennium Projects in England: a major installation of moving architectural elements, videos and 200 sculptures.

Tsypin was chosen to exhibit his work at the Venice Biennale in 2002. His monograph, GEORGE TSYPIN OPERA FACTORY: Building in the Black Void, was published by Princeton Architectural Press in October 2005.

Tsypin's Broadway debut as a set designer for a musical was Disney Theatrical's production of The Little Mermaid, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. He also designed the set for the new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which is scheduled to open at the Foxwoods Theatre in March 2011 and is currently in previews.

He is currently working on the Sea Glass Carousel for Battery Park next to the World Trade Center site.

Family

George Tsypin is a brother-in-law of the painter and composer Roman Turovsky.

References

• Sculpting Space in the Theater: Conversations with the top set, light and costume designers - Paperback (Oct. 12, 2006) by Babak Ebrahimian
• GEORGE TSYPIN OPERA FACTORY: Building in the Black Void" Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.
• Ronn Smith, American Set Design 2, pp. 159–173, Theatre Communications Group Inc , 1991
• Tony Davis, Stage Design, RotoVision, 2001
• "George Tsypin", Polyhymnion