Olha Dondyk

Principal Guest Conductor of Phion Symphony Orchestra (from 2026/27 season)

Ukrainian-born Olha Dondyk has quickly attracted international attention through her musical intelligence, technical assurance and commitment to cultural advocacy.

In the 2026/27 season, she assumes the title of Principal Guest Conductor of Phion Symphony Orchestra and leads them for an eight-concert tour including at a sold-out Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 and, together with Nikola Meeuwsen, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2.

She also returns to Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 and has forthcoming first appearances with Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP), Staatsorchester Mainz, Tapiola Sinfonietta, and educational projects with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.

As the Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris in the 2025/26 season, Dondyk built a strong relationship with the orchestra, leading them in school concerts and working closely with Music Director Klaus Mäkelä. They led together the orchestra Academy, and she conducted Honneger’s Symphony No.3 in their final concert in September 2026.

Recent engagements have included appearances with Residentie Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Orchestre Avignon Provence, Paris Mozart Orchestra at the Berlioz Festival and Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie. She collaborates with soloists such as Anna Federova, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Yoav Levanon.

She assisted leading conductors including Paavo Järvi, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lahav Shani, Maxime Pascal, Debora Waldman and Petri Sakari, and participated in masterclasses with Pablo Heras-Casado and David Reiland.

Her international breakthrough came in January 2024 when she made her debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert supporting Ukraine, leading to an immediate reinvitation and the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the orchestra. Two months later, she became a semi-finalist in the 2024 La Maestra International Conducting Competition in Paris, receiving a special mention from the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO).

A passionate advocate for Ukrainian music and culture, she champions the work of Ukrainian composers including Borys Lyatoshynsky, Maksym Berezovsky and Lesia Dychko, whose music features in her concerts this season.

Born in Kyiv, Dondyk studied piano and violin before focusing on choral conducting at the R. M. Glière Kyiv Academy of Music. Deeply influenced by Ukraine’s rich choral tradition, she conducted children’s choirs and served as assistant conductor for Andriy Bondarenko’s musical Kai and Gerda at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine.

Following her move to Germany in 2022, she completed her Bachelor in Orchestral Conducting with Alexander Rumpf at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in summer 2026 and moved to Switzerland to pursue a Masters in Orchestral Conducting at Zurich University of the Arts.