Oliver von Dohnányi was born in Trenčín, Czechoslovakia, (now Slovakia), into a musical family. He studied conducting at the Prague Academy for Music under Václav Neumann and Alois Klíma, and at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna under Otmar Suitner, taking masterclasses with famous conductors Franco Ferrara, Arvid Janssons and Igor Markevich.

He made his début with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava, in 1979 and continued to conduct this orchestra regularly until 1986, which included many concerts and recordings not only for Slovak National Radio, but also for the Naxos Records Marco Polo imprint, Supraphon, Panton, Verga and Opus labels. From 1978 he worked extensively with the chamber ensemble Canticorum Iubilo, with which he toured Spain, Belgium, Sweden and the USSR.

During 1986–1991, he was principal conductor of the Slovak National Opera, where he enlarged the Opera’s repertoire with the scenic works of Borodin, Puccini, Bellini, Rossini, Smetana and Verdi, as well as conducting the company in an award-winning production of Faust at the Edinburgh Festival (1990). He performed with the Slovak National Theatre Opera ensemble in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Russia and China. Other appearances abroad have included visits to the Salzburg Festival, the ENO (where he has conducted Falstaff and Mefistofele), Opera North in Leeds (Carmen, The Bartered Bride, La Gioconda, Hamlet, Norma), the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and opera houses in Basle, Düsseldorf, Vienna, Zürich and Wexford. He has also appeared with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Yomiuri Nippon SO in Japan. His reputation is based above all on music of the late 19th and 20th centuries, and his recordings include music by Liszt and Rubinstein, Odysseus by Michael Kocáb and an acclaimed performance of Smetana’s Libuše at the National Theatre Prague. More