Edo de Waart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edo de Waart (born June 1, 1941) is a prominent Dutch orchestral conductor. He conducts both orchestral as well as operatic music and is particularly well-known as an orchestra builder (he has turned a number of second-string orchestras into top-notch ensembles).
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[edit] Studies, competition, assistant conductor
De Waart studied oboe, piano and conducting at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, graduating in 1962. The following year, he was appointed associate principal oboe of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 1964, at the age of 23, he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York. As part of his prize, he served for one year as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On his return to the Netherlands, he was appointed assistant conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bernard Haitink.
[edit] Conductor in the Netherlands and the US
In 1967, he was appointed conductor of both the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and was the latter's music director from 1973 to 1979.
De Waart made his début at the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1975; a year later he became principal guest conductor, and from 1977 to 1985 he was its music director. From 1986 to 1995, he was chief conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
In 1989, the peripatetic De Waart returned to the Netherlands where he was appointed music director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He resigned from the post in 2004 and now he is the orchestra's conductor laureate.
[edit] Conductor in Australia and worldwide
De Waart was chief conductor and artistic adviser of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2004. He left the position to become artistic director and chief conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
De Waart has been a guest conductor with the major orchestras throughout the world including the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In March, 2002, De Waart announced his premature departure in 2004 as chief conductor of the Netherlands Opera (DNO), a position he filled since 1999. In giving his reason for leaving, De Waart mentioned his desire to spend time with his two small children, However, De Waart also mentioned in an interview with the newspaper Trouw his disagreement with the conceptual staging of Lohengrin by DNO director Pierre Audi and the planned Madame Butterfly of Robert Wilson. De Waart said he missed "humanity" and "emotion in the direction."
[edit] Musical orientation and recordings
An avid promoter of contemporary music, De Waart led premières of works by John Adams, whose opera Nixon in China he has recorded; Steve Reich, whose Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards he has recorded; and others in San Francisco.
De Waart has also been a frequent conductor of opera. He made his début at the Santa Fe Opera in 1971, the Houston Grand Opera in 1975, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1976, and the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1979. From 1970, he conducted the DNO frequently. In 1980, he directed a Ring cycle at the San Francisco Opera.
In recent seasons, he has conducted a new production of Der Rosenkavalier for Opera de Bastille, Die Zauberflöte and Figaro for the Metropolitan Opera and Katya Kabanová, Werther, Peter Grimes, Makropolous Affair, Madame Butterfly, Fidelio, Les Troyens in Amsterdam. Other recent productions include Boris Godunov for Geneva Opera, Figaro for the Salzburg Festival and Beatrice et Benedict for Santa Fe Opera. In Sydney, he led concert performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, a project which started in 1995 and culminated in performances of Götterdämmerung as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. He also conducted Richard Strauss' Salome and Elektra opera-in-concert performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic to critical acclaim.
Edo de Waart's recording catalogue is extensive, encompassing recordings with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony.
He said in a recent interview that he finds working with young orchestras in locales such as Hong Kong refreshing because he is not burdened by the weight of tradition. Standing on the podium of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Waart feels the hot breath on his shoulders of Mahler and Strauss and other greats who have conducted there.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Jean Fournet |
Principal Conductor, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra 1973–1979 |
Succeeded by David Zinman |
| Preceded by Seiji Ozawa |
Music Director, San Francisco Symphony 1977–1985 |
Succeeded by Herbert Blomstedt |
| Preceded by Neville Marriner |
Music Director, Minnesota Orchestra 1986–1995 |
Succeeded by Eiji Oue |
| Preceded by Stuart Challender |
Chief Conductor, Sydney Symphony Orchestra 1993–2003 |
Succeeded by Gianluigi Gelmetti |
| Preceded by Hartmut Haenchen |
Chief Conductor, De Nederlandse Opera 1999–2004 |
Succeeded by Ingo Metzmacher |
| Preceded by Samuel Wong |
Chief Conductor, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra 2004– |
Succeeded by incumbent |
