Performer Fatally Crushed by Stage Decoration Mid-Opera at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater

A 37-year-old performer was crushed to death by a stage decoration in the middle of an opera at Moscow’s prestigious Bolshoi Theater on Saturday night. The fatal accident is said to have occurred during a change of stage scenery in Sadko, a Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov-composed opera, reports Yahoo! News AU. The theater said the opera was “immediately stopped, and the audience was asked to leave” after a ramp allegedly crushed the performer, per Interfax news. RIA Novosti and TASS report that the man had been killed by a piece of stage decor that fell. The Investigative Committee says it is looking into the circumstances but has not yet released further information, including the performer’s identity.

The Bolshoi Theater has been home to a few other grim incidents over the last few years, including an acid attack on the Bolshoi Ballet director and the death of a senior violinist after falling into the orchestra pit.