OLIVER VON DOHNÁNYI
conductor
CV
GOLDEN MASK LAUREATE
“The Best Conductor”
Bolshoy Theater, Moscow, April 2018
GOLDEN MASK April 2020 NOMINATED
“The Best Conductor”
(The ceremony was postponed due to Corona-pandemy)
After graduating, Oliver von Dohnányi won the position of conductor of Czechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava, where he worked for seven years. After his first successful production of “Barbiere di Siviglia” for the Slovak National Opera Bratislava at the age of 28, he became the youngest music director in the history of this opera house. He has performed many productions including „Madama Butterfly“, „Aida“, „La Bohème“, „Rusalka“, „Macbeth“, „Tosca“, „Il Barbiere“, „La Sonnambula“, „Faust“, „The Whirlpool“ and others. At the Edinburgh Festival he conducted performances by „Faust“ (which received a special jury award for music) and „Prince Igor“.
His career took him to Prague, where he was Music Director from 1993 to 2007, conducting around 100 performances per annum. Thus, he conducted in that period hundreds of performances of „La Bohème“, „Il Barbiere di Siviglia“, „Il Turco in Italia“, „The Bartered Bride“, „Rigoletto“, „La traviata“, „Rusalka“, „Samson and Delilah“, „Macbeth“, „Libuse“, „Don Giovanni“, „The Marriage of Figaro“, „The Magic Flute“, „Don Pasquale“, „Tosca“, „Norma“, „The Whirlpool“, „Aida“ and several ballet productions, including Prokofiev’s „Romeo et Juliette“ and „Cinderella“.
Other opera companies:
ENO (English National Opera): „Falstaff“, „The Merry Widow“ and „Mefistofele“.
Opera North, Leeds, UK: „Carmen“, „La Gioconda“, „Rusalka“, „Andrea Chénier“, „Norma“, „Hamlet“, „La traviata“, „The Bartered Bride“ (The Best Opera Production in the UK in 1998, director Daniel Slater).
In 2012, his production of „Norma“ for Opera North won the „British Opera Award“ (Theater Award 2012 and „Achievement in Opera“ 2012, director Christopher Alden).
Von Dohnányi works as a guest conductor of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague and as the first guest conductor of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra Slovak Sinfonietta.
In 2015, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Ural Opera House in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where he worked for five years. „Satyagraha“ was the breakthrough in the history of the Ural Opera House and immediately attracted the attention of Russian and international critics and experts. The production won two „Golden Masks“, including a special Jury Award in the Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, during the Russian National Theater Award.
In 2017-19, he performed the following new productions:
„Katja Kabanova“ in Seattle Opera, Wagner’s „The Ban on Love“ at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, „Les Huguenots“ at the Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, „Carmen“ for New Zealand Opera, „The Magic Flute“, „Rusalka“, „The Greek Passion“ and „Turandot” in the Ural Opera, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
In 2019, he made his succesful Australian debut, conducting „Carmen“ in Adelaide and „Tosca“ for the Queensland Opera, Brisbane.
In 2018, von Dohnányi was recognized as the best conductor in the opera for „The Passenger“ by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (in the Russian premiere). Holocaust survivors and their tormentor received another award for the best main female role. The first performance was recorded on DVD.
His last production of the opera „Three Sisters“ of Péter Eötvös has recently been nominated for the Golden Mask 2019 in nine categories, including „The Best Conductor“.
Oliver von Dohnányi is the winner of the Gustav Mahler European Prize (2011) and the European Union of Arts Prize (2011).
Orchestra and concerts:
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Manchester and BBC Belfast, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Philharmonic Buenos Aires, Tonkuenstler-Orchester Vienna, Portugal National Philharmonic, Hungarian Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and Zagreb Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Wellington Symphony Orchestra, and many other symphony orchestras in France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Japan and in the UK.
He has made numerous successful recordings with Naxos, Lyra, Opus/Audiphon, Panton, Supraphon and Marco Polo, including a collection of works by Glinka, Khatchaturian, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.
December 2019