Effective August 1, 2026, Ernst Meisner will be the Artistic Director of Dutch National Ballet, succeeding Ted Brandsen who will retire at the end of the company’s 2025-2026 season.
The decision to select Meisner as Artistic Director of the main company comes after an international search. In a statement, Stijn Schoonderwoerd, General Director of the National Opera & Ballet, expresses:
“We have come to know Ernst in his current roles as an inspiring colleague who combines a strong artistic vision with the ability to collaborate and connect. That is really important within our large organization with so many different disciplines.
He also knows from his own experience experience of what is needed to guide current generations of artists in a respectful way in their development, as professionals and as people. With this he will also make a good contribution to the development of the National Opera & Ballet as a whole.”
Director of Dutch National Opera, Sophie de Lint adds, ““During our excellent collaboration on the project How Anansi liberated the stories of the world, I personally experienced that Ernst, like me, is curious about what happens outside the domain of his own field. That is why I am looking forward to exploring the possibilities with him of artistic collaboration between opera and ballet that Ted Brandsen and I have shaped in recent seasons.
I also look forward to taking the talent development function of the National Opera & Ballet a step further with Ernst, for example by jointly projects with the Junior Company and the Opera Studio. We also share the belief that we must continue to develop and challenge our art forms, and that the National Opera and Ballet has an important role to play in the Dutch and international ecosystem of the performing arts.”
About Ernst Meisner
The Netherlands native has been part of the Amsterdam-based organization ever since he was a young student at the Dutch National Ballet Academy and then returning as a professional to Dutch National Ballet in 2010 after having been a dancer at The Royal Ballet for a decade.
Upon retiring from the stage, Meisner was appointed Artistic Director of the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet and in 2018, added Artistic Director of the National Ballet Academy to his responsibilites. In 2024, he was also named Deputy Director of Talent Development.
Meisner is also a choreographer having created several works for the main and junior companies. They include:
- Axiom of Choice (2014)
- Merge (2016),
- In Transit (2017)
- Impermanence (2018)
- Prometheus (2020/2021)
- Embers (2013)
- Lollapalooza (2013)
- No Time Before Time (2016)
- Largo (2020)
“I am particularly honoured by this appointment by the Supervisory Board and look forward to working with the various talented colleagues and the management of the National Opera & Ballet, but also to establishing new connections outside of it.
The National Ballet under Ted Brandsen has grown into a world-class company. On the one hand, developing what has been built up and taking care of the company’s rich oeuvre and on the other hand, together with the young generation of dancers and makers, breaking new ground is a challenge that I am very much looking forward to have.”
– Ernst Meisner, Incoming Artistic Director of Dutch National Ballet
Featured Photo of Dutch National Ballet‘s next Artistic Director Ernst Meisner. Photo by Carin Verbruggen.
