David Zolkwer

David Zolkwer (left) speaking at a press conference ahead of the Georgia 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival.

David Zolkwer is a producer and directors of public events and ceremonies.[1][2]

Early Career

After a short career working in fringe theatre in London, Zolkwer then worked extensively in the corporate domain for UK-based experiential marketing agencies such as Imagination, Spectrum Communications, Caribiner and Jack Morton Worldwide.

Public Events Career Highlights

Zolkwer has played a leading role in major public events around the world for nearly two decades.

In 1997 he was both Project and Creative Director for the Hong Kong Handover Ceremony.[1] He played the same dual role working on the 'Money' and 'Self Portrait' Zones at the Millennium Dome in 2000.[1][3]

In 2002 he was Project and Artistic Director for the ceremonies of the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games and personally directed the Opening Ceremony. The success of the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the ceremonies were seen by many as a major statement of UK confidence and capability that paved the way for London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.[4][5][6]

In 2004 he was Project Director and one of the lead Creative Directors for the Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.[7][8] He was the only non-Greek member of the core Creative Team led by Dimitris Papaioanou.[9]

In 2005 directed the launch of the Melbourne 2006 Queen's Baton Relay from Buckingham Palace.

In 2006 he served as Associate Director supporting the local Australian Jack Morton team producing the ceremonies of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. In the same year he also directed 'Falklands 25' a commemorative event broadcast simultaneously from Horse Guards Parade, London and the Falkland Islands to mark the 25th Anniversary of the end of the Falklands conflict.

Over 2007/08 Zolkwer served as Creative Consultant and led a small team from Jack Morton Worldwide providing technical, production and operations consultancy to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Artistic Director Zhang Yimou who he also supported during the extended creative bid process for the Beijing Ceremonies (as did US movie director Steven Spielberg).[10]

In 2008 he was Project & Creative Director for the Team GB & Paralympics GB Team Homecoming - staged in Trafalgar Square, London to celebrate the achievements of the British teams in Beijing.

In the corporate world, in 2006, Zolkwer led the team responsible for the creation of an event for 10,000 IBM employees in Bangalore - which was also broadcast by satellite to a further five Indian cities. He also spearheaded the launch of telecommunications giant Zain first in the middle-east in 2007 (simultaneous, satellite-linked events in Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan) and then across Africa in 2008 (simultaneous, satellite linked events in Burkina Faso, Chad, D.R.C, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia).

In 2009 Zolkwer directed the launch of the Delhi 2010 Queen's Baton Relay from Buckingham Palace and was also the Artistic Director for the Ceremonies of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Zolkwer was the Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, described by the Guardian Newspaper as "An unusually limber, oddly unstilted and bafflingly entertaining introduction to South Africa 2010". A month later he also directed the Ceremony that closed the tournament - an event that featured a guest appearance by Nelson Mandela.

Also in July 2010 Zolkwer was the Artistic Director of 'Remembering Fromelles' a ceremony held exactly 94 years after the disastrous First World War battle of Fromelles in Northern France in which thousands of Australian and British troops lost their lives. During the ceremony the last of 250 British and Australian World War I troops recovered from mass graves was reburied with full military honours. The event was attended by Prince Charles, the Duke of Kent and the Governor-General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce AC

Zolkwer was the Creative Director for the Celebration Sites in London's Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square created for The Royal Wedding, The Marriage of H.R.H. Prince William of Wales with Miss Catherine Middleton. The event - themed around the notion that everyone was a guest at the Royal Wedding - welcomed the largest crowd ever assembled in Hyde Park.

Zolkwer has been the Project & Creative Director for the Mayor of London's annual New Year's Eve Celebrations (from 2007-2015) - a lighting, projection and firework event focused around the London Eye and the River Thames attended by a live audience numbering in excess of 350,000.[11] The event kicked off an extraordinary Jubilee and Olympic year for the city and, for the first time the display, which traditionally takes place over the River Thames and of the London Eye, was also fired from the Great Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster. Each firing underscored Big Ben's twelve chimes at midnight. The music soundtrack to which the fireworks were choreographed was conceived and by Zolkwer and produced in collaboration with BBC Radio 1. It was designed to reflect the diversity, wit and popularity of British music whilst at the same time reflecting the character and personality of London. The 'narrative' of the show also referenced the year ahead for London as host of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee. The BBC live broadcast of the celebration was watched by more than 12.6 million viewers. Twelve months later Zolkwer and the Jack Morton Worldwide team created the celebratory display that served as a bookend to the year. The soundtrack to the display featured documentary soundbites from key personalities designed to capture key moments from the year - the Mayor, Boris Johnson, Her Majesty The Queen, Prince Charles, Prime Minister David Cameron and Sebastian Coe. The event achieved record viewing figures with over 13 million watching the BBC live broadcast.

(Zolkwer's work on London's 2015 New Year's Eve spectacular saw the clock faces of Elizabeth Tower - home to 'Big Ben' - lit blue to mark the involvement of UNICEF in the event. This was the first time in the history of the tower that the clock faces had appeared in any colour other than white).

Also in December 2012 Zolkwer returned to South Africa to join forces with local agency VWV to provide creative consultancy for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2013 African Cup of Nations. The Opening Ceremony was staged on 19 January 2013.

On 13 July 2012 it was announced that Zolkwer had been appointed as Head of Ceremonies and Artistic Director for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. (He was also the creative director of the Glasgow 2014 Queen's Baton Relay Commencement Ceremony which was broadcast live from the Mall and Buckingham Palace in October 2013).

The Glasgow Games and the Ceremonies were hailed as a huge success. The Opening Ceremony featured performances by Karen Dunbar, John Barrowman, Amy Macdonald, Rod Stewart, Susan Boyle, Nicola Benedetti, Julie Fowlis, Billy Conolly and Pumeza Matshikiza, as well as a message from the International Space Station. The ceremony began with a countdown and a recorded video message from Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, explaining the partnership between the Games and UNICEF. (One innovative creative highlight of the Opening Ceremony 'activated' the Glasgow 2014 partnership with UNICEF. A live international appeal on the night saw the team raise over £5m/$8m for the UNICEF Children of the Commonwealth fund). In interviews recorded after the Games, Zolkwer attributed much of the success of the Glasgow ceremonies to the collaborative partnership established with Dr Bridget McConnell, CEO of Glasgow Life and David Grevemberg, CEO of Glasgow 2014, as well as Glasgow City Council leadership.

From April - July 2015 David Zolkwer served as creative and production consultant to the Georgian Chamber of Culture for the Opening Ceremony of the Georgia 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival.

In December 2015 Zolkwer was appointed as Project and Artistic Director for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The Opening Ceremony will be staged on 4 April 2018. This will be the third of the last four Commonwealth Games for which David and the Jack Morton team have delivered the ceremonies.

Education

David Zolkwer attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before then studying Theatre and English at Middlesex University, where he earned a first class honours degree.

David Zolkwer was awarded an honorary doctorate from London’s Middlesex University "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to his profession and his community".

Personal Life

David Zolkwer was born in Manchester in 1964. He currently lives in Henley-on-Thames, UK. He has three sons, Ethan (born 1995) and Morgan and Joseph (born 1999).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Focus: Pulling a fast one?". London: The Sunday Times. 15 August 2004. p. 4. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  2. ↑ "Croneen heads Morton UK team". Design Week. 24 November 2000. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  3. ↑ Myerson, Jeremy (13 September 1998). "DOME-GROWN TALENT". The Independent. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  4. ↑ Hart, Simon (20 July 2002). "Commonwealth Games: Showtime for Manchester maestro". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  5. ↑ "SHOWCASE: Commonwealth Games ceremony". Marketing Event. 4 September 2002. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  6. ↑ Herbert, Ian (26 July 2002). "Games try for pomp without pomposity as Manchester wheels out its big drums". highbeam.com. The Independent. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  7. ↑ "Jack Morton takes on Olympic job". Design Week. 9 January 2003. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  8. ↑ "Fire and water feature in ceremony". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 August 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  9. ↑ Peterson, Gary (13 August 2004). "Greek director sticks the landing". accessmylibrary.com. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  10. ↑ Coonan, Clifforg (18 October 2006). "Beijing's bid for cool: Ang Lee's Olympic rapprochement". The Independent. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  11. ↑ "Meet the Commonwealth Games' Danny Boyle: Man behind Glasgow opening ceremony has worked on huge shows from the Royal Wedding to the World Cup". dailymail.co.uk. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
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