Officials are investigating the death of a performer onstage at Russia’s prestigious Bolshoi Theater on Saturday.
The theater said that the performer, identified as Yevgeny Kulesh, died during a performance of the “Sadko” opera. The BBC, citing local media, reported that he had been an actor with the theater for almost 20 years.
“The performance was immediately stopped, the audience was asked to leave the hall,” the Bolshoi said in a statement, according to the network.
Kulesh was crushed by falling scenery during a set change, The Associated Press reported, citing witnesses who claimed that he apparently left the stage on the wrong side.
Social media posts indicated that guests attending the performance initially believed that incident was part of the opera. However, it soon became apparent that the situation was serious as one person on stage reportedly said that there was blood and asked for an ambulance to be called.
The theater has been the scene of previous mishaps and deaths, including two incidents in 2013.
A violinist who had performed with the theater for decades fell into an orchestra pit, subsequently dying, the BBC noted.