Oliver Haller

Oliver Haller (Flensburg, Germany) studied costume and fashion design at the Charles Montaigne Fashion Academy in Amsterdam and later obtained a master's degree in scenography at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After his studies, he worked for Joop van den Ende Theatre Productions, the Salzburg Festival, director Peter Sellars, and De Nederlandse Opera (now Dutch National Opera).

Since 2003, he has been the head of the costume department at Dutch National Ballet. In this role, he designed costumes for works such as Moving Rooms, Dumbarton Dances, and Sheherazade by Krzysztof Pastor, Body by Ted Brandsen, and Minos, Homo Ludens, and Transcription of Color by Juanjo Arqués. Over the past ten years, Haller has also designed costumes for numerous ballets for the Junior Company of Dutch National Ballet and was asked by Hans van Manen in 2022 to redesign the costumes for his Four Schumann Pieces.

1.         How and when did you start working at Dutch National Opera & Ballet?
I have been working at Dutch National Opera & Ballet since 2000. First as a costume assistant for Dutch National Opera and from May 2003 as head of the Costume Department for Dutch National Ballet. I trained as a costume designer and obtained a master's degree in scenography. Before that, I worked as an assistant designer for various productions at, among others, Salzburg Festival, Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and Covent Garden in London.

2.         What makes your craft/job so special within Dutch National Opera & Ballet and what makes it so special to yourself?
For me, dance is one of my favourite art forms. The high level of the performances is a great motivation. Besides the love and attention that the Costume Department Ballet puts into the productions, all other disciplines and crafts are at the top level.

3.         What is your favourite production seen from your craft’s / job’s perspective? Do you have any special memories of that production?
My favourite production in the end is still Cinderella, a particularly fun collaboration where the designer and the studios took each other to new heights ..., but honestly, it's hard to choose because in the end, every production becomes a kind of child of yours.

Last update: 04-09-2024