leading theatre company for ballet and opera in Russia. The original group, which was made up of several smaller troupes, was organized in Moscow in the mid-1770s, performing primarily at the mansion of Count R.I. Vorontsov. In 1780 the first permanent theatre building in Moscow was opened as the company's home, but it burned in 1805. A year later the Bolshoi Theatre was made a government institution, and a new building was opened in 1825. It, too, was destroyed by fire, in 1853, but it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1856 to accommodate an audience of more than 2,000. By the end of the 19th century the Bolshoi's operatic and ballet productions of Russian and other European works were influencing the performing arts throughout the Western world. In 1924 a smaller auditorium was added to the theatre complex, and in 1961 the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, with a capacity of about 6,000, was acquired as a third performing space for bigger productions.

The company was kept intact during the Russian Revolution of 1917, both world wars, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990–91. Since the mid-1950s the opera and ballet troupes have traveled extensively.