Bernard Haitink

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Bernard Haitink
Birth name Bernard Johan Herman Haitink
Born March 4, 1929 (1929-03-04) (age 79)
Flag of the Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands
Genre(s) Classical
Occupation(s) Conductor, violinist
Instrument(s) Violin
Years active 1936-present
Associated acts Concertgebouw Orchestra
Dresden Staatskapelle
Glyndebourne Opera
Royal Opera House
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink CH KBE (b. March 4, 1929) is a Dutch conductor and violinist.

[edit] Biography

Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink.[1] He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam. He played the violin in orchestras before taking courses in conducting under Ferdinand Leitner in 1954 and 1955.

Haitink became second conductor of the Netherlands Radio Union Orchestra in 1955. He took the post of chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1957. His conducting debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra was on November 7, 1956, substituting for an indisposed Carlo Maria Giulini.[2] After the sudden death of Eduard van Beinum, Haitink was named first conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra on 1 September 1959. He became principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961, and shared that position jointly with Eugen Jochum until 1963.[3] Haitink then served as sole principal conductor until 1988. In 1999, he was named the honorary conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Outside of the Netherlands, Haitink was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979. Haitink also served as the music director at Glyndebourne Opera from 1978 to 1988. He held the same position at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1987 to 2002, where he was praised for his musicianship, but received criticism for the degree of attachment to the entire organisation.[4] [5] From 2002 to 2004, he was chief conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. His original contract with Dresden was through 2006, but Haitink resigned in 2004 over disputes with the Staatskapelle's Intendant, Gerd Uecker, on the orchestra's choice of successor.[6]

As a guest conductor, Haitink has served as principal guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2004, when he took on the new title of conductor emeritus. He made the following recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra:

In addition, he has appeared with l'Orchestre National de France and London Symphony Orchestra and made several recordings with them, in addition to his long associations with the Vienna Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Haitink is an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic.

In April 2006, after an acclaimed two-week engagement in March 2006 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), the CSO appointed Haitink to the newly created position of principal conductor, effective as of the 2006-2007 season.[7] The duration of the contract is four years.[8] With respect to this contract, Haitink stated that "every conductor, including myself, has a sell-by date."[9]

In 1977, he was awarded an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire (KBE). In 2002, he was created an honorary Companion of Honour (CH).[10] More recently, Musical America named Haitink its 2007 Musician of the Year.[11]

Haitink has conducted a wide variety of repertoire, with the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the complete piano concertos of Beethoven and Brahms with Claudio Arrau notable among his recordings.[12] In November 2006, the CSO announced a new radio and recording initiative, the first CD recording release of which was taken from Haitink's performances with the CSO in October 2006 of the Symphony No. 3 of Gustav Mahler.[13][14] This recording was released in May 2007.

Haitink formally stated in a 2004 article that he would no longer conduct opera, but he made exceptions in 2007, directing three performances of Parsifal in Zurich in March and April and five of Pelléas et Mélisande in Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées) in June. He had also said in 2004 that he did not plan to conduct again at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.[15] However, an April 2007 announcement stated that Haitink would return to the Royal Opera in December 2007, with the same Zurich production of Parsifal,[16] and he fulfilled this engagement.[17]

Haitink has five children from his first marriage to Marjolein Snijder. He and his fourth wife, the former Patricia Bloomfield, a barrister and past viola player in the Covent Garden Opera orchestra, have a home in Switzerland.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nicholas Wroe. "Master of the House", The Guardian, 14 Oct 2000. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  2. ^ "The Diffident Dutchman", Time, 12 May 1967. Retrieved on 2007-07-13. 
  3. ^ The orchestra's own website gives 1963 as the date when Haitink became sole principal conductor.
  4. ^ Nicholas Kenyon. "For a Reluctant Maestro, Relief, No Regrets, in Berlin", New York Times, 2 June 1991. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  5. ^ Andrew Clements. "A great musician - but that was not enough", The Guardian, 21 Jun 2002. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  6. ^ Andrew Clark. "Bernard Haitink: unfinished symphony", Financial Times, 22 October 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  7. ^ Andrew Patner. "Symphony in good hands", Chicago Sun-Times, 15 Oct 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  8. ^ Daniel J. Wakin,. "Arts, Briefly; Chicago Symphony: Conductors but No Music Director", New York Times, 28 Apr 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  9. ^ James R. Oestreich. "A Jet-Setting Maestro Sets a Brisker Pace for Beethoven", New York Times, 6 October 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  10. ^ "Queen honours conductor Haitink", BBC News, 9 Jul 2002. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  11. ^ Chicago Symphony Orchestra (21 Dec 2006). "CSO Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink Named Musical America’s 2007 Musician Of The Year". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.
  12. ^ Anderson, Robert (1973). "Mahler: The Complete Symphonies". Musical Times vol. 114 (no. 1560): pp. 152. 
  13. ^ "Chicago Symphony Orchestra Announces Major Radio And Recording Initiatives", Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 30 Nov 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  14. ^ John von Rhein. "Haitink, CSO make magic with Mahler", Chicago Tribune, 20 Oct 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  15. ^ Martin Kettle. "I started far too young. I still have sleepless nights ...", The Guardian, 5 Mar 2004. Retrieved on 2007-04-21. 
  16. ^ Opera News (10 April 2007). "Breaking News: Next Royal Opera Season Promises Minotaur Premiere, New Salome, Voigt as Ariadne". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
  17. ^ Erica Jeal. "Parsifal (Royal Opera House, London)", The Guardian, 8 December 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Paul van Kempen		 Principal Conductor, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
1957–1961		 Succeeded by
Jean Fournet
Preceded by
John Pritchard		 Music Director, Glyndebourne Opera Festival
1978–1988		 Succeeded by
Andrew Davis
Preceded by
Colin Davis		 Music Director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
1987–2002		 Succeeded by
Antonio Pappano
Preceded by
Daniel Barenboim (music director)		 Principal Conductor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2006–present		 Succeeded by
incumbent
v • d • e
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Principal Conductors

Willem Kes (1888) · Willem Mengelberg (1895) · Eduard van Beinum (1945) · Bernard Haitink (1963) · Riccardo Chailly (1988) Mariss Jansons (2004)
v • d • e
London Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Conductors

Thomas Beecham (1932) · Eduard van Beinum (1947) · Adrian Boult (1950) · William Steinberg (1958) · John Pritchard (1962) · Bernard Haitink (1967) · Georg Solti (1979) · Klaus Tennstedt (1983) · Franz Welser-Möst (1990) · Kurt Masur (2000) · Vladimir Jurowski (2007)
v • d • e
Dresden Staatskapelle Principal Conductors

Julius Rietz (1874) · Franz Wüllner (1877) · Ernst von Schuch (1884) · Fritz Reiner (1914) · Fritz Busch (1922) · Karl Böhm (1934) · Karl Elmendorff (1943) · Joseph Keilberth (1945) · Rudolf Kempe (1949) · Franz Konwitschny (1953) · Lovro von Matačić (1956) · Otmar Suitner (1960) · Kurt Sanderling (1964) · Martin Turnovský (1966) · Herbert Blomstedt (1975) · Hans Vonk (1985) · Giuseppe Sinopoli (1992) · Bernard Haitink (2002) · Fabio Luisi (2007)