Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

signal status listen live donate
listen live donate signal status
listen live donate signal status
  • News
    • topics
    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • genres
    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic
    • Daily Playlist
  • Programs + Podcasts
    • news
    • Morning Edition
    • All Things Considered
    • Marketplace
    • Insight With Vicki Gonzalez
    • music
    • Acid Jazz
    • At the Opera
    • Classical Music
    • Connections
    • Excellence in Jazz
    • Hey, Listen!
    • K-ZAP on CapRadio
    • Mick Martin's Blues Party
    • Programs A-Z
    • Podcast Directory
  • Schedules
    • News
    • Music
    • ClassicalStream
    • JazzStream
    • Weekly Schedule
    • Daily Playlist
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • CapRadio Garden
    • CapRadio Reads
    • Ticket Giveaways
  • Support
    • Evergreen Gift
    • One-Time Gift
    • Corporate Support
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Gift
    • Legacy Gift
    • Endowment Gift
    • Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • e‑Newsletter
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Close Menu

Classical Communiqué Classical blog

Discussing the way classical music touches the mind and the heart.

subscribe

Renowned conductor Bernard Haitink, beloved for his modesty, has died at age 92

Monday, October 25, 2021 | Sacramento, CA
Todd Rosenberg/Courtesy of Askonas Holt

The conductor Bernard Haitink leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in an undated photo. Haitink died Thursday at age 92.

Todd Rosenberg/Courtesy of Askonas Holt

Anastasia Tsioulcas | NPR

Renowned Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink died Thursday at age 92. The range of his work gives a glimpse of how much he was admired and beloved both in Europe and the U.S., particularly by orchestras and soloists who hailed him as a musician's musician, prizing the work itself over showboating and glamor.

Over the course of his long career, Haitink served as the chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam; music director of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the U.K.; principal conductor of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic; and principal guest conductor and then conductor emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

He made some 450 recordings of orchestral music and opera, ranging from Mozart's Don Giovanni to a complete cycle of Shostakovich's symphonies, as well as complete cycles of the symphonies by Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Beethoven (the last three times: with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouw and the London Symphony Orchestra).

His management company, Askonas Holt, announced his death, saying that he died "peacefully at home." No cause was given.

Bernard Haitink was born March 4, 1929, in Amsterdam. He grew up under Nazi occupation, a particularly frightening prospect given that his mother, Anna, was half-Jewish. His father, a civil servant named Willem, was held for three months in a concentration camp along with about 100 others as retaliation after a Nazi bookshop was bombed.

Haitink started out playing violin at age 9, and went on to study at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He won a seat as a second violinist in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, but soon began studying conducting as well. Shortly thereafter, he became conductor of the radio orchestra — and perhaps it was his own experience, sitting in the back ranks of the violins, that made him so sensitive to the players as well as to the score.

In 1956, Haitink was asked to step in for conductor Carlo Maria Giulini at the Concertgebouw; at first, he said no, saying that he wasn't ready for the opportunity. At last he acquiesced — and it became the beginning of his six-decade association with that orchestra, which he led as chief conductor for 27 years before becoming its honorary conductor.

When Haitink was awarded Gramophone magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, pianist András Schiff remarked of his friend and colleague, "Bernard is unique because, of all the conductors I know, he has the least ego. It's like a breath of fresh air! The way he loves music, and respects and reveres the great composers, and how he sees his role, is exactly as it should be: as a medium between the composer and the players and the listeners. He's not driven by the huge overblown egos of certain other conductors! ... Bernard is, I think, modest to a fault; he has such a fantastic conducting technique that he believes firmly that it's totally unnecessary to say anything to the orchestra, so if something goes wrong he thinks it's probably his fault...but it isn't! He's so modest and that's why all orchestras respect him."

  • Classical
  •  

 classical

Coronavirus Newsletter

Get answers to your questions, the latest updates and easy access to the resources you need, delivered to your inbox.

 

Want to know what to expect? Here's a recent newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

We'll send you weekly emails so you can stay informed about the coronavirus in California.

Browse all newsletters
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    • (916) 278-8900
    • Toll-free (877) 480-5900
    • Email Us
    • Submit a News Tip
  • Contact Us

  • About Us

    • Contact Us / Feedback
    • Coverage
    • Directions
    • Careers & Internships
    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Press
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile App
    • On Air Schedules
    • Smart Speakers
    • Playlist
    • Podcasts
    • RSS
  • Connect With Us

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2022, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.