Ruslan and Ludmila
Vedernikov became music director of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2001, where he worked on modernising the company. He conducted the first new production of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" since 1948. He conducted at the house the first production of Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur" in 2002, Mussorgsky's "Khovanshchina", Puccini's "Turandot", the original version of Glinka's "Ruslan and Ludmila", the first production of Prokofiev's "The Fiery Angel" in 2004, the first Russian performance of the original version of Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" and Verdi's Falstaff. He conducted, on a commission from the opera house, the world premiere of Leonid Desyatnikov's "The Children of Rosenthal" in the 2004/05 season. He led productions of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" and his ballet "Cinderella". He had a contract with the company until 2010, but in July 2009 resigned on the first day of the theater's summer tour, citing disagreements with its management.