The Bolshoi, one of Russia’s most prestigious theaters, said the incident took place during a certain change in Sadko, an opera by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
The cast member has been identified by state media as 38-year-old Yevgeny Kulesh.
The theater tweeted its condolences yesterday.
“The management of the Bolshoi Theater and the team of the imitation ensemble regretfully announce the tragic death of our artist Yevgeny Sergeevich Kulesh (16.08.1983 – 09.10.2021). We express our deep sympathy with family and friends. Time and place of a memorial will be announced later, “was the tweet.
“The opera was stopped immediately and the audience was asked to leave,” the theater told the Interfax news agency.
The rest of the performance was canceled and the audience was refunded.
The incident took place at the back of the scene, where Mr Kulesh “went in the wrong direction” when the landscape fell, according to a law enforcement source, the Russian state news agency TASS reports.
Interfax News quoted a source as saying the artist was crushed by a ramp during a landscape change.
Bolshoi has been hit by tragedy in the past.
In July 2013, a senior violinist died after falling into the orchestra pit.