Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
) is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The orchestra performs primarily at the Bradley Symphony Center in Allen-Bradley Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for Florentine ...
. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the
Royal Flemish Philharmonic The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra is the symphony orchestra of Flanders ( Belgium), based in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. The orchestra is led by chief conductor Elim Chan and honorary conductor Philippe Herreweghe. The organisation, which is ...
(2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (2010-2014), and music director of the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...
(2016-2019).
De Waart studied
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
, piano and conducting at the Sweelinck Conservatory, graduating in 1962. The following year, he was appointed associate principal oboe of the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...
.
Orchestral conducting
In 1964, at the age of 23, De Waart 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
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
at the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
. On his return to the Netherlands, he was appointed assistant conductor of the
Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "R ...
under
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lon ...
.
In 1967, he was appointed conductor of both the
Netherlands Wind Ensemble
The Netherlands Wind Ensemble ( nl, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, NBE) comprises musicians from all the major Dutch symphony orchestras.
The NBE is regularly featured in special concert series at Amsterdam’s main venues: the Concertgebouw, Par ...
and
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPhO; nl, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest) is a Dutch symphony orchestra based in Rotterdam. Its primary venue is the concert hall De Doelen. The RPhO is considered one of the Netherlands' two principal orc ...
, and was the latter's music director from 1973 to 1979.
De Waart made his début at the
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San F ...
in 1975. A year later, he became principal guest conductor, and from 1977 to 1985 he was music director. From 1986 to 1995, he was music director of the
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
History
Em ...
.
In 1989, De Waart returned to the Netherlands, where he was appointed music director of the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (''Radio Philharmonic Orchestra''; Dutch abbreviation RFO) is a Dutch radio orchestra, based in Hilversum. The RFO performs under the aegis of the ''Muziekcentrum van de Omroep'' (Broadcasting Music Centre; NMBC), an ...
. He resigned from the post in 2004 and now he is the orchestra's conductor laureate.
De Waart became chief conductor and artistic adviser of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and f ...
in 1993, and served in the post until 2003. While in Sydney, De Waart made no secret of his dislike of the acoustics of the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
Concert Hall, the orchestra's home, saying, "if there is no clear intention to do something to improve the hall, then we really seriously have to look at another venue". In 2004, De Waart became artistic director and chief conductor of the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (Cantonese: 香港管弦樂團), commonly abbreviated as HKPO or HKPhil (Cantonese: 港樂), is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1947 as an amateur orchestra under the name Si ...
. He concluded his Hong Kong tenure in 2012.
In January 2008, De Waart was named music director of the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The orchestra performs primarily at the Bradley Symphony Center in Allen-Bradley Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for Florentine ...
, and he assumed the post in September 2009. In March 2008, the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...
announced De Waart as an Artistic Partner with the orchestra for the 2010–11 season. In April 2010, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of De Waart's contract through the 2016–17 season. In the same month, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (deFilharmonie) announced De Waart's appointment as chief conductor for six seasons beginning in 2012. He formally began his chief conductorship of deFilharmonie (now:
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra) in 2011, a year earlier than originally scheduled. In November 2014, deFilharmonie announced that De Waart's tenure as chief conductor would conclude after the 2015–2016 season. In February 2015, the Milwaukee Symphony announced the conclusion of De Waart's music directorship after the 2016–2017 season. He now has the title of conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony.
In June 2015, the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...
announced the appointment of De Waart as its next music director. He led his first concerts as NZSO music director in March 2016.
In January 2015, De Waart first guest-conducted the
San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera.
History
On December 6th 1910, th ...
. In January 2019, the orchestra announced the appointment of De Waart as its first-ever principal guest conductor, effective with the 2019–2020 season.
Opera
De Waart has also been a frequent conductor of opera, making his first appearance at the
Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...
(SFO) in 1971, in a production of ''
The Flying Dutchman
The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...
''. He debuted at the
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...
in 1975, the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...
,
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
in 1976, and the
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The ''Bayreuth Festspielhaus'' or Bayreuth Festival Theatre (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspielhaus, ) is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, built by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner and dedicated solely to the performa ...
in 1979. From 1970, he conducted
Netherlands Opera
The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a ...
(DNO) frequently. In 1980, he directed a ''
Ring'' cycle at the
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
History
Gaetano Merola (1923–1953)
Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...
.
In March 2002, De Waart announced his departure in 2004 as chief conductor of the DNO, a position he had occupied since 1999. In giving his reason for leaving, De Waart mentioned his desire to spend time with his two small children. But in an interview with the newspaper ''Trouw'' he also mentioned his disagreement with DNO director Pierre Audi's conceptual staging of ''
Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...
''and Robert Wilson's planned ''
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...
'', saying he missed "humanity" and "emotion in the direction."
In July 2007, SFO named De Waart their chief conductor, effective 1 October 2007. His initial contract was for four years, during which time he conducted the 2008 production of ''
Billy Budd
''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quickl ...
''. But in November 2008, SFO announced that De Waart would step down before the end of his contract, no earlier than the end of the 2009 season. De Waart cited health and family reasons for this decision.
Repertoire
An avid promoter of
contemporary music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...
, De Waart led premieres of works by
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
, whose opera ''
Nixon in China'' he has recorded;
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, ...
, whose ''Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards'' he has recorded; and others in San Francisco.
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich ( ; born April 30, 1939) is an American composer, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her early works are marked by atonal exploration, but by the late 1980s, she had shifted to a postmodernist, n ...
's Symphony No. 2 is dedicated to him.
Recordings
De Waart's recording catalog is extensive, encompassing recordings with such labels as Philips and orchestras such as the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...
,
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPhO; nl, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest) is a Dutch symphony orchestra based in Rotterdam. Its primary venue is the concert hall De Doelen. The RPhO is considered one of the Netherlands' two principal orc ...
,
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (''Radio Philharmonic Orchestra''; Dutch abbreviation RFO) is a Dutch radio orchestra, based in Hilversum. The RFO performs under the aegis of the ''Muziekcentrum van de Omroep'' (Broadcasting Music Centre; NMBC), an ...
,
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and f ...
,
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
History
Em ...
, and
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San F ...
.
Discography
*
''Frederica von Stade sings Mozart and Rossini Arias'', with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philips, 1976
*
Richard Strauss: ''Der Rosenkavalier'', with Jules Bastin, José Carreras, Derek Hammond-Stroud, Evelyn Lear, Frederica von Stade, Ruth Welting and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philips, 1977
* Respighi Pini Di Roma, Fontane Di Roma, Gli Uccelli. Philips 1981–1982, Davis Hall San Francisco.
Honours
![Edisons1969](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Edisons1969.jpg)
In January 2001 De Waart was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society and the advancement of music". In May 2005, he was appointed an Honorary Officer of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
"for service to Australia, particularly as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra". He is a knight in the
Order of the Netherlands Lion
The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...
.
Personal life
De Waart and his sixth wife, Rebecca Dopp, live in
Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, near Dopp's hometown of
Middleton. They married in 1999 and have two children: a son, Sebastiaan, and a daughter, Olivia. The family previously lived in Hong Kong but moved to accommodate Sebastiaan's asthma. De Waart and his first wife, Noor Terweij, had two children, Boris and Marjolein. He was also formerly married to
Roberta Alexander
Roberta Alexander (born March 3, 1949) is an American operatic soprano. She began her career as a lyric soprano in 1975 and spent the next three decades performing principal roles with opera houses internationally. Particularly celebrated for her ...
, Sheri Greenawald and
Ruth Welting.
References
External links
Video Edo de Waart conducting in Milwaukee at the MSOHarrisonParrott Agency biography of Edo de WaartAustralian Government, 'It's an Honour – Australia Celebrating Australians', page on 1 January 2001 award of Centenary Medal to de WaartAustralian Government, 'It's an Honour – Australia Celebrating Australians', page on 30 May 2005 award as Officer of the Order of Australia to de Waart*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waart, Edo De
1941 births
Living people
Dutch classical musicians
Dutch conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Dutch oboists
Helpmann Award winners
Male oboists
Musicians from Amsterdam
Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni
Players of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Honorary Officers of the Order of Australia
Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
20th-century conductors (music)
21st-century conductors (music)
Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods
Recipients of the Centenary Medal
People from Middleton, Wisconsin
People from Maple Bluff, Wisconsin