Bernard Haitink

With an international conducting career that has spanned more than five decades, Amsterdam-born Bernard Haitink is one of today's most celebrated conductors.

Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2006, he was for more than 25 years at the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw as its music director. In addition, Mr Haitink has previously held posts as music director of the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the London Philharmonic. He is Conductor Laureate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has made frequent guest appearances with most of the world’s leading orchestras.

The 2008-9 season includes tours to Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and China with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances in Chicago and Carnegie Hall, New York. He will complete the cycle of Beethoven symphonies, concertos and overtures with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe started in Easter 2008 at the Summer 2008 and Easter 2009 Luzern Festivals. Other highlights of the season include a new production of “Fidelio” at the Zürich Opera, and concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras. He celebrates his 80th birthday in March 2009 with concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and at The Barbican Centre, London.

Mr Haitink has recorded widely for Phillips, Decca and EMI labels, including complete cycles of Mahler, Bruckner, and Schumann symphonies with the Concertgebouw and extensive repertoire with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His most recent recordings are the complete Brahms and Beethoven symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra on the LSO Live label, and Mahler’s Symphonies no.3 and 6 and Bruckner Symphony no.7 with the Chicago Symphony for their new “Resound” label. His discography also includes many opera recordings with the Royal Opera and Glyndebourne, as well as with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Dresden Staatskapelle. Mr Haitink’s recording of Janacek’s Jenufa with the orchestra, soloists, and chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden received a Grammy Award for best opera recording in 2004.

Mr Haitink has received many international awards in recognition of his services to music, including both an honorary Knighthood and the Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom, and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands. He was named Musical America’s “Musician of the Year” for 2007.

Photo: Clive Barda