Bob Brandsen

1.    How and when did you start working at Dutch National Opera & Ballet  (description schooling / career)?
After starting studies in English and history, both of which I did not finish, and after completing my military service, I got in touch with Dutch National Opera & Ballet (DNO&B) through an advertisement in 1986, which was then still Het Muziektheater. My career progressed as follows: through Catering, Drama and Performance Management, I ended up at Production Management. After a four-year stint at the Royal Opera House in London, I am now director of Technology & Production at DNO&B.

2.    What makes your craft / job so special within DNO&B and what makes it so special to yourself?
There are few companies like DNO&B in the world, and it is a unique institution in the Netherlands. It’s a village, a microcosm, with all kinds of professions and talents under one roof! Working on a production with all these special colleagues, the adrenaline of running a show, checking together how we can do it even better: it is a rare profession in which we work.

3.     What is your favorite production seen from your craft’s / job’s perspective? Do you have any special memories of that production?
It's not easy to pick just one. Rêves d'un Marco Polo in 2000 and 2004 was a unique performance to exceptional music by Claude Vivier, presented in the Gashouder in the Westerpark. Total theatre in optima forma; all talents housed by DNO&B came together here. Artifact by William Forsythe for Dutch National Ballet was also special; to have the curtain come down with a bang on Bach's Chaconne in part II gave an enormous kick. Finally, there are the many special performances within the guest program, with companies from all over the world.

Last update: 04-10-2022.