He was born in Kazan in 1960. He trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow. He was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet and became the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in Spartacus. For nine years, he was the Company’s leading male dancer. His repertory included Ivan the Terrible, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Raymonda, Legend of Love. Yuri Grigorovich created the leading male role in The Golden Age for him. In 1988, he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize (Best Dancer in the World).
In 1990, he made the decision to leave Russia and join the Royal Ballet in London. His arrival inspired Kenneth MacMillan to create a new pas de deux for him and Darcey Bussell which was performed at the Queen Mother’s 94th Birthday Tribute in July. This pas de deux became part of a one-act ballet Winter Dreams (based on Tchekov’s The Three Sisters), which was recorded for television and shown on BBC2 at Christmas 1992. He was the subject of a one-hour Omnibus documentary, transmitted on BBC1 in November 1991. In May 1996 he starred as a guest in a new BBC talk-show series, My Favourite Nosh.
As well as making his debut in the Royal Ballet productions of the traditional classics - Raymonda Act lll , The Nutcracker, La Bayadère, Swan Lake and Giselle - he also appeared in modern works by the Royal Ballet’s own choreographers. In MacMillan’s Manon he danced both the leading male roles in the space of one week. He made an unforgettable impression in David Bintley’s Cyrano. Just before Christmas 1991 he showed another side of his talent as the hero of Frederick Ashton’s ever popular La Fille Mal Gardée. In March 1992, he created the leading male role in MacMillan’s newest ballet The Judas Tree. In July 1992, he made his debut in MacMlllan’s Romeo and Juliet, again to universal praise. In October 1992, London audiences were thrilled by his debut in MacMiltan’s Mayerling (which has been recorded for television). He has since been seen in Balanchine’s Apollo and has made his debut in the same choreographer’s Prodigal Son on Spring 1993. In 1994, Ashley Page created the leading role in Fearful Symmetries for Mukhamedov, and in 1998 Twyla Tharp was so impressed by his gifts that she chose him for one of the leading roles in her first full-length ballet for the Royal Ballet Company Mr. Worldly Wise.
In 1999, he appeared for the second time with Arc Dance Company when Kim Brandstrup created the leading role in The Return of Don Juan for him. In the same year he created the role of Peter Quint in William Tuckett’s ballet The Turn of the Screw. In the summer of 1995, he made his debut in a non-dancing role - the King of Siam in The King and I for the Covent Garden Festival. He was voted Dancer of the Year (1992) by the readers of the prestigious British magazine Dance and Dancers - only the third male dancer to receive that honour - and was also chosen Dancer of the Year (1992) by the newspaper The Independent on Sunday. He received the 1992 London Evening Standard Award for Dance and the 1992 Gino Tani Award in Italy.
In 1996 he won the Benois de la Dance Prize in Paris. In 1998 he was awarded the Nijinsky Medal and later the same year he was invited to become president of the Legat Society. He was awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours list in January 2000. In April 1992, he Ied his own small group of Royal Ballet dancers, Irek Mukhamedov & Company, and gave three performances (in Northampton, Oxford and Bradford) to great acclaim. In February 1993, the group appeared in Bilbao, Spain. In 1994, the group made its London debut at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. For this season, Mukhamedov invited Kim Brandstrup and Arc Dance Company to join him. Kim Brandstrup created a new ballet for Mukhamedov, Othello. In which for the first time he danced with a contemporary dance company. Othello subsequently received the Evening Standard Award. In 1996, the group appeared in Hampton Court, London. Russian choreographer Natalia Volkova was asked to create a new ballet Rasputin. In 1998, the Company was invited to appear at the At Bustan Festival of Music and the Arts in Beirut. In 1999, the Company was again asked to perform for one week at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, with huge success. In June 2000, the Company was invited to dance two performances at the Kuopio Dance Festival, Finland. In September 2000, the Company appeared at Sadler’s Wells for another successful week.
Irek Mukhamedov has performed in Poland several times before. In 1985, he came to Warsaw with the Bolshoi Ballet, and danced in The Golden Age and Ivan the Terrible choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich. In 1997, this time as a soloist of the Royal Ballet, he was the star of the gala ballet evening Homage to Warsaw, held on the 400th anniversary of Warsaw’s capital-city status. On that occasion, he danced Tarantella choreographed by George Balanchine, and his partner was Miyako Yoshida. He gave a guest performance at the Grand Theatre on 22 April 2001, performing the title role in Zorba the Greek with choreography by Lorca Massine. He is the choreographer of a production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. The premiere was held on 25 May 2001.
Photo: Archive
