Boris Kochno

Boris Kochno was a Russian-born ballet librettist and impresario who shaped the artistic vision of twentieth-century ballet through scenario, direction and institutional leadership. Born in Moscow in 1904, he moved to Paris in 1919 and became Serge Diaghilev's secretary in 1920, soon advancing to artistic adviser for the Ballets Russes. In this role, Kochno wrote scenarios for some of the company's most significant works: *Les Fâcheux* (1924), *Zéphire et Flore* (1925), *La Chatte* (1927), *Les Dieux mendiants* (1928) and *Le Fils prodigue* (1929).

Following Diaghilev's death, Kochno continued his work as an artistic adviser, consulting on Charles Cochran's ballet seasons and the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. In 1933, he co-founded and directed Les Ballets 1933 alongside George Balanchine, establishing himself as a company leader in his own right. His most sustained directorial achievement came in 1945, when he co-founded the Ballets des Champs-Élysées with Roland Petit, serving as its artistic director through 1951.

Kochno's legacy as a dramaturg and director rests on his ability to conceive ballet narratives and structure companies around artistic innovation. His papers—preserved in the Fonds Kochno at the New York Public Library's Jerome Robbins Dance Division—contain manuscripts, correspondence, contracts, notebooks, photographs and programs that document his work with Diaghilev and the development of Russian and European ballet in the mid-twentieth century.