Performances

Moscow Ballet Returns to Bethesda with Great Russian Nutcracker!

Moscow Ballet’s celebrated Great Russian Nutcracker will be at Bethesda's Music Center at Strathmore on Tuesday November 15, 3:00 and 7:00pm.

The company of 40, comprised of award-winning principals and corps de ballet, perform Olympic-worthy leaps, lifts and pirouettes in the classic holiday ballet.  To the delight of audiences of all ages, the artists bring humor, charm, athletic prowess and Russian flair to Tchaikovsky’s timeless score. Celebrate the beauty of the holidays and the best of Russian ballet in Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker!

Tickets start at $28.00. Groups of ten or more and Girl Scout Troops receive discounts by calling 800-320-1733. For VIP and single tickets call Music Center at Strathmore Box Office 301-581-5100 or online:

Bethesda Area Student Dancers will join Moscow Ballet
Russians on Stage in December!

Bethesda area youth will be selected to perform alongside 40 Moscow Ballet professionals in the Great Russian Nutcracker this December. The CityDance Center at Strathmore will be the host studio for Moscow Ballet’s Student Program in Bethesda, and a Moscow Ballet soloist will serve as Audition and Rehearsal Director.

Pictured here: Student dancers in a past performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker.

Every year since 1993, Moscow Ballet has engaged local ballet students and host studios in cities on the North American tour, offering them the most unusual opportunity of auditioning, rehearsing, and performing in a professional setting. Children ages 7 to 16, under 5”2” and with some ballet training are eligible to audition.

CityDance Center at Strathmore, producing and presenting professional dance performances and providing a performance home for CityDance Conservatory & School students.

"[Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker] casts a
Christmas spell."
Daily Progress—Charlottesville

Child Prodigy Violinist to Join Moscow Ballet Soloist on Stage

Moscow Ballet announces a special collaboration at the December 16 performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker in Bethesda at the Music Center at Strathmore... Child prodigy violinist, 16-year old Fedor Ouspensky, will open the performances playing Saint Saens' "The Dying Swan," accompanied by Moscow Ballet ballerina Olga Kifyak dancing the time-honored choreography.

Click here to see legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya dance Saint Saens' "The Dying Swan."

Moscow Ballet celebrates Fedor's many achievements! At just 16 years old, he has already won First Place in 11 competitions. He has performed publicly at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and was invited to perform at the White House. The young musician has accompanied Master Classes given by prominent musicians such as Joshua Bell, Midori Gotō, Emerson Quartet, and Zvi Zeitlin.

He started taking violin lessons at the age of 5, and by 8, Fedor was invited to perform with the McLean Youth Symphony Orchestra. This spring he won a position to play under Maestro Lorin Maazel in the Castleton Festival Orchestra series as one of the only high school students to do so. Fedor, whose teacher is Oleg Rylatko, Concertmaster of Washington National Opera, is currently a sophomore at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA.

Moscow Ballet Returns to National Press Club, Dec. 14!

The National Press Club will once again host Moscow Ballet in a Newsmakers program! Moscow Ballet's award-winning soloist Olga Kifyak will speak at the event at 3 pm on Friday, December 14. She will also perform the time-honored choreography of Saint Saens' The Dying Swan, alongside youth prodigy violinist Fedor Ouspensky—the pair will repeat this performance on the The Music Center at Strathmore stage prior to Moscow Ballet's 20th Anniversary productions of the Great Russian Nutcracker on December 16.

Moscow Ballet (presented by Akiva Talmi Presents) in 2012 presents the 20th Anniversary production of the critically acclaimed Great Russian Nutcracker in more than 60 cities across North America, which, in addition to Bethesda, include Baltimore on December 14 and 15 at the Hippodrome Theatre, and Fairfax, VA on December 19 and 20 at the George Mason University Concert Hall.

Olga Kifyak (pictured right) is winner of 10 International Ballet Competition awards, an Honored Artist of the Ukraine, and has been welcomed by audiences from Europe to the Orient. She debuts in North America in 2012 in the 20th Anniversary tour of Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker. From leading roles in the dramatic Swan Lake, to the lyrical Giselle, to the exotic Gamzati in La Bayadere, Kifyak is a true master, as attendees will see. She is mysterious, playful, and the greatest find of the 2012 national touring scene.

Fedor Ouspensky, age 16, is a First Place winner of many competitions, including the 2012 Feuer Fairfax Symphony Young Artists, Strings International Concerto, and 2010 Alexandria Performing Arts Young Artists. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and more. See below to learn more about him!

DC Metro Theater Arts review of the December 16
Great Russian Nutcracker matinee performance

By Jessica Vaughan

"[Great Russian Nutcracker]...an impressive, professional troupe...put on a traditional, beautiful show." Click here to read more!