Vladimir Balashov graduated from the Sverdlovsk Theatre Institute in 1949 and worked on the stage of the local Youth Theatre. While a student, he began writing what he himself called «verse» plays dedicated to Pushkin’s youth. He was noticed and sent to study part‑time in Moscow at the Literary Institute. In the end, he wrote more than 40 plays; one of his series of works, «Creators,» is dedicated to outstanding figures — Raphael, Bach, Thomas Chatterton, and others. Natalya Kovaleva took on one of his most famous plays — «The Legend of Paganini,» which has been translated into various languages around the world and was successfully staged in many theaters in Russia and abroad in the past.
On the stages of the Vakhtangov Theatre, a vivid cycle of «Creators» is already taking shape — Mozart, Salieri, Sulerzhitsky, Stok, Landau… And now, in September 2026, Paganini will join this remarkable company.