Nicholas Georgiadis

Nicholas Georgiadis (1923-2001) was a painter, stage and costume designer, renowned for his work in ballet, particularly in collaboration with Kenneth MacMillan.

Early Life

He was born on 14 September 1923 in Athens, Greece. He 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 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 Rudolph Nureyev on such works as Sleeping Beauty (1966), The Nutcracker (1968), The Tempest (1982) and 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 Leon Bakst and Alexandre Benois had done in the first part.”

Georgiadis worked actively up until his death on 10 March 2001. 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 a CBE for his contribution to the arts in 1984. He had been awarded the London Evening Standard Ballet Award the previous work 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.