| Variations of Name | Bernard Johan Herman Haitink |
| Biography | Bernard Haitink CH KBE is a Dutch conductor. He conducted his first concert in 1954 with the Netherlands Radio Union Orchestra. He became chief conductor of the orchestra in 1957. His conducting debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra was in November 1956, substituting for Carlo Maria Giulini. After the sudden death of Eduard van Beinum, Haitink was named first conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1959. With the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Haitink made many recordings for the Philips label, and later Decca and EMI Classics, and toured widely with the orchestra.
In the early 1980s, Haitink threatened to resign his Concertgebouw post in protest at threatened reductions to its subsidy from the Dutch government, which could have led to the dismissal of 23 musicians from the orchestra. The financial situation was eventually settled, and Haitink remained as chief conductor until 1988. In 1999, he was named the honorary conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2014, Haitink stated to the Dutch newspaper Het Parool that he wished to renounce the title of RCO conductor laureate and no longer to guest-conduct the orchestra, in protest at the orchestra's administrative management. In 2015, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra announced a rapprochement with Haitink, with a scheduled guest-conducting engagement with the orchestra in the 20162017 season.
Haitink was Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979. Haitink was also Music Director at Glyndebourne Opera in England from 1978 to 1988. He was Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1987 to 2002, where his musicianship was praised though he received criticism for his degree of attachment to the organisation as a whole. |