Henk van der Meijden is one of the most successful producers and circus directors in Europe. Together with his wife Monica Strotmann anddaughter Elisa he manages his firm Stardust Circus International. Already 50 years ago he presented the Russian State circus in Rotterdam as opening of the Ahoy-hall. Also for 36 years he has presented the World Christmas Circus in the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam and for 28 years the Weltweihnachtscircus in Stuttgart. According to the Circus Zeitung “The greatest and most International circus in Germany”. Van der Meijden has toured Europe already for 25 years with the Great State Circus of China and presented it in a big top for the first time. In Spain he presented the Chinese circus shows ZENsation 1 and 2, Yin Yang 1 and 2, Piratas Piratas and Asiana (a combination of North Korea, China and Mongolia). In 2008 he presented as the 1st one a European tour with “The Flying Circus North Korea” and he toured several years with the shows Asiana, Confucius, Hans Christian Andersen and Ovations also with great success throughout Europe. He was a member of the jury of the Monte Carlo Circus festival and he provided to the Festival many acts that won the Golden Clown.
Henk van der Meijden presented Cirque Stiletto, a new style circus with the Dutch star Ellen ten Damme – with dancers, circus-acts and Burlesque elements. This show was a tremendous success.
Van der Meijden wrote and produced musicals, produced classical concerts and presented international renowned ballet companies . He worked with Spanish artists like Antonio Gades, Salvador Távora and Julio Iglesias. He has presented the Mariinsky Ballet, the Bolshoi and Perm Ballet and he worked with Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Greatest and Biggest Swan Lake in the World, an original Henk van der Meijden idea, was created in association with the Tchaikovsky Perm Ballet and toured through The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany between 2003 and 2011. A new version is executed by the Shanghai Ballet and sells out theaters worldwide to this day.
In 2022 he received the Royal honor of becoming knight (in the Order of Orange-Nassau). In the same year Stardust opens in Madrid together with two Spanish partners in the emblematic Matadero building Madrid Artes Digitales, a permanent digital arts centre for immersive experiences. MAD’s very first own produced immersive show about Tutankhamon sold 200.000 tickets in 3 months and is set to tour across Europe and beyond.
