Bernard Haitink facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bernard Haitink
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Haitink in 1984
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Bernard Johan Herman Haitink
4 March 1929 Amsterdam, Netherlands
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| Died | 21 October 2021 (aged 92) London, England
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Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (born 4 March 1929 – died 21 October 2021) was a famous Dutch conductor and violinist. A conductor is like the leader of an orchestra, guiding the musicians to play together. Haitink led many top orchestras around the world.
He started with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. Later, he moved to London and became the main conductor for the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979. He also led the music at Glyndebourne Opera and the Royal Opera House. After that, he was the principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and then the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Haitink made many recordings of classical music, especially symphonies and orchestral pieces. He also conducted operas. He performed at The Proms in London 90 times! His last performance there was in 2019 with the Vienna Philharmonic. He won many awards, including Grammy Awards and a special Gramophone Award for his amazing career.
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Early life
Bernard Haitink was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 4 March 1929. His father, Willem Haitink, worked for the city's electricity board. His mother, Anna Clara, worked for a French language organization.
Bernard loved music from a young age. He studied the violin and learned how to conduct at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He played the violin in orchestras before he started taking special classes to become a conductor in 1954 and 1955.
Career
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Haitink conducted his first concert on 19 July 1954 with the Netherlands Radio Union Orchestra. He quickly became a main conductor for them.
His first time conducting the famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was on 7 November 1956. He filled in for another conductor who couldn't make it. After the main conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra passed away, Haitink became their principal conductor in 1961. He made many recordings with this orchestra and traveled all over the world with them.
In the 1980s, there were some money problems for the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Haitink was worried that musicians might lose their jobs. The problems were solved, and he stayed with the orchestra until 1988. Later, in 1999, he was given the special title of honorary conductor for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Haitink also led the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979. He was the music director at Glyndebourne Opera in England from 1978 to 1988. From 1987 to 2002, he was the music director of the Royal Opera House in London, which is a very important opera house.
From 2002 to 2004, Haitink was the chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Germany. He left this role earlier than planned due to disagreements about who would take over after him.
Haitink was also a main guest conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2004. He worked with other famous orchestras too, like the Orchestre National de France and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). He recorded all the symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms with the LSO. He was also an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic.
In 2006, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) asked Haitink to be their principal conductor. He took the job for four years, from 2006 to 2010. He said he was getting older, so he didn't want to be their music director, which is a bigger role. He finished his time in Chicago by conducting all of Beethoven's symphonies.
Even though he said in 2004 that he would stop conducting operas, he made a few exceptions. He conducted Parsifal in Zürich and Pelléas et Mélisande in Paris in 2007. He even returned to the Royal Opera House in London for Parsifal that same year.
Haitink also taught young conductors in special classes in Lucerne, Switzerland. In 2015, the European Union Youth Orchestra named him their conductor laureate.
In June 2019, Haitink announced that he would retire from conducting. His last concert with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was on 15 June 2019. His final concert in the UK was at The Proms on 3 September 2019, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His very last concert ever was in Lucerne on 6 September 2019, also with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Personal life
Bernard Haitink had five children from his first marriage. He later married Patricia Bloomfield in 1994. She was a lawyer and used to play the viola in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House. They lived in West London.
In 2019, a book called Dirigieren ist ein Rätsel (Conducting is a Mystery) was published. It included Haitink's own thoughts about his life and career.
Haitink passed away on 21 October 2021, at his home in London. He was 92 years old.
Awards and honours
Bernard Haitink received many awards and honours for his contributions to music:
National
- Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 1972)
- Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (UK, 1977)
- Honorary medal for Arts and Science of the Order of the House of Orange (Netherlands, 2000)
- Honorary Companion of Honour (UK, 2002)
- Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Netherlands, 2017)
Music industry and cultural
- Gold Medal of the Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft Vienna
- Gramophone Awards for his recordings in 1980, 1985, 1986, and 1990.
- Erasmus Prize (Netherlands, 1991)
- Musical America "Musician of the Year" (USA, 2007)
- Grammy Awards (USA, 2003 and 2008)
- Echo Klassik (Germany, 2013)
- Gramophone Awards Lifetime Achievement Award (United Kingdom, 2015)
- BBC Music Magazine 2018 "Recording of the Year" Award
- Honorary member of the Wiener Philharmoniker (2019)
Recordings
Haitink recorded music with many famous orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra.
He mainly focused on classical symphonies and other orchestral pieces. He recorded all the symphonies by composers like Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, and Shostakovich. He also recorded all of Beethoven's piano concertos and Brahms's two piano concertos with pianist Claudio Arrau.
In opera, he conducted famous works like Mozart's three Da Ponte operas and Wagner's Tannhäuser and Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Images for kids
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Haitink in 1984
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Haitink in 1959
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At the Barbican Centre in London with the London Symphony Orchestra, 2011
See also
In Spanish: Bernard Haitink para niños
