• People's Artist of Russia (2008)
• Prize-winner and recipient of the Grand prix at the International Ballet Competition (Paris, 1990)
• Recipient of the Baltika prize (2001)

Born in Labinsk.
Graduated from the Tbilisi School of Ballet (class of Vakhtang Chabukiani) and trained at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (class of Gennady Selutsky).
Igor Zelensky joined the Mariinsky Ballet Company in 1988, and three years later became a soloist. He has performed every major role in the ballet repertoire and taken part in all of the Theatre's touring projects. He has appeared at the world's leading ballet venues, performing in the UK, the USA, Europe and South America.
Since 1990 Igor Zelensky has been a Guest Soloist with the Deutsche Oper (Berlin), where he has performed classical ballets as well as productions by Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit and George Balanchine.
Principal Dancer between 1992 and 1997 with New York City Ballet, where his repertoire included over twenty-five ballets by Balanchine, among them Theme and Variations, Apollo, The Four Temperaments, Brahms-Schoenberg-Quartet, Raymonda Variations, Western Symphony, Allegro Brillante and The Nutcracker as well as works by Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins.
Guest soloist with London's Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, from 1996, where he performed in the ballets Manon and Romeo and Juliet (choreography by Kenneth MacMillan), The Sleeping Beauty (Anthony Dowell version), La Bayadère (Natalia Makarova version), Giselle (Peter Wright version) and Apollo (choreography by George Balanchine).
Soloist with London's Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, from 1997-2001.
As a principal guest soloist he has performed at La Scala (Milan), the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Colón (Buenos Aires) and theatres in Boston, San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro.
In 2000 he was Principal Guest Soloist at Russia's Bolshoi Theatre, where he performed lead roles in La Bayadère and Swan Lake.
From 2001 to 2006 he was Assistant Director of the Athens Opera House and choreographer and staging master of Don Quixote, Raymonda, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadère.
While remaining a Mariinsky Theatre Principal Dancer, since 2006 Igor Zelensky has been Artistic Director of the ballet company of the Novosibirsk State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Artistic Director of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre since 2011.

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Giselle (Albrecht); choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa,
Le Corsaire (Ali, Seid-Pasha); production by Pyotr Gusev after the composition and choreography of Marius Petipa,
La Bayadère (Solor); choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani,
“Paquita” Grand pas (Soloist); choreography by Marius Petipa,
The Sleeping Beauty (Désiré); choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev,
Swan Lake (Siegfried, Friends of the Prince); choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev,
Don Quixote (Basilio); choreography by Alexander Gorsky,
Schéhérazade (Zobeide’s Slave); choreography by Michel Fokine,
The Nutcracker (the Prince); choreography by Vasily Vainonen,
Romeo and Juliet (Romeo); choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky,
Spartacus (Spartacus); choreography by Leonid Yakobson,
The Young Lady and the Hooligan (the Hooligan); choreography by Konstantin Boyarsky,
George Balanchine’s ballets Apollo (Apollo), Theme and Variations, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Jewels (Diamonds) and Piano Concerto No 2 (Ballet Imperial),
Le Jeune Homme et la mort (the Youth); choreography by Roland Petit,
Manon (Des Grieux); choreography by Kenneth MacMillan,
The Four Seasons; choreography by Jerome Robbins,
Immortal Beloved; choreography by Edwaard Liang,
Concerto Grosso; choreography by Alla Sigalova.