“Boris Yeltsin will be remembered by some for his erratic, drink-induced behaviour. To the Bolshoi, however, ‘Tsar’ Boris was the hero who saved the company from the uncertainties of privati sation. ‘During the 1990s, there were those who fought to turn the Bolshoi into a corporation. It was Yeltsin who created the special law to protect our theatre as a national treasure; and it was under him that the £400m reconstruction began’.”