Background
Smolich, Nikolai was born on June 24, 1888 in St. Petersburg.
Smolich, Nikolai was born on June 24, 1888 in St. Petersburg.
Studied at Petersburg University, 1905-1908. Studied at Petersburg University, 1905-1908.
Actor at the Aleksandrinskii Theatre, 1911-1917. Director from 1916. Director of the State Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Mariinskii) from 1922 (in 1935, the name was changed to the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre). Staged many Western classical operas -La Traviata, Les Huguenots, and Faust.
Artistic director of the Leningrad Malyi Opera Theatre, 1924-1930. Staged Nos, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Katerina Izmailova) by Dmitrii Shostakovich, 1934. Director, then chief director of the Bolshoi Theatre, 1930-1936, 1947^18.
Artistic director and director of the Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kiev, 1938-1947. Taught at the Moscow Conservatory, 1961-1963.