Andriy Zholdak

On Saturday, 26 October, the Dutch newspaper Het Parool published an article about the inappropriate behaviour of guest director Andriy Zholdak during the production period of the opera Fidelio, which was staged by Dutch National Opera in June. You can read our response to the article here. In this statement we clarify how our organisation handled the situation at the time.

Ukrainian director Andriy Zholdak was trained in Moscow and headed the Ukrainian Drama Theatre in Kharkiv for several years. He is known for his idiosyncratic theater language, inspired by the work of film directors such as Fellini, Ingmar Bergman and Tarkovsky. In his work he creates surreal dream worlds in which symbolism plays a major role. His work was shown at the Berliner Festspiele and the Wiener Festwochen. For his opera debut, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin for the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, he won the 'Golden Mask', Russia's most prestigious theater prize. He also worked for, among others, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Teatr Wielki, Theater Freiburg, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Opéra de Lyon. In the latter house, his production of Tchaikovsky's Charodeyka was featured as production of the year in 2019 by the German magazine Oper!.