Oliver von Dohnányi

Oliver von Dohnányi is a Slovak conductor based in Prague. He studied at both the Academy of Music in Prague and the University of Music in Vienna, then began conducting for Czechoslovak Radio SO Bratislava, where he worked for seven years. 

At the age of 28, after his first successful production of Barbiere di Siviglia (Slovak National Opera, Bratislava), Oliver became the youngest music director in the history of the opera house. He directed several productions, including Madama Butterfly, Aida, Rusalka, La sonnambula, Krútňava and toured the world extensively. At the Edinburgh Festival, he conducted Faust (special jury award winner) and Prince Igor. Three years later he was also appointed conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava. 

From 2006 to 2010, Oliver worked as the operatic artistic director of the Moravian-Silesian National Theater, Ostrava, and won both the Gustav Mahler European Prize and the European Union Arts Prize in 2011. From the 2015/16 season, he was appointed chief conductor of the Ural Opera in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2015, the first production of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha won two Gold Masks – Russia’s highest theatre award. He conducted many other productions, including Flying Dutchman, Evgenij Onegin, Otello, Carmen, Greek Passion and Turandot. In April 2018, he received the “Golden Mask – Best Conductor at the Opera,” for Weinberg’s The Passenger. His final production for Yekaterinburg, Eötvös’ Three sisters in March 2020, won the title of “Best Opera Production of the Year”. 

Other conducting credits include productions for English National Opera; Opera North – including Norma (British Opera Award, Theater Award, 2012, and Achievement in Opera, 2012) and The Bartered Bride (UK’s Best Opera, 1998); Munich Bavarian State Opera; Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe; Mannheim National Theater; Seattle Opera; and New Zealand Opera.

He made his Australian debut in 2019 with Carmen in the Square (State Opera South Australia) and “Tosca” (Opera Queensland). 

Since 2020, Oliver has been working with the Bulgarian National Opera in Sofia, conducting productions of Tosca, Turandot, Don Carlos and Macbeth. In October 2020, he conducted Mahler’s Symphony of Thousands (No. 8) as part of the opening of the Eiffel Art Studios.