Bernard Haitink, a well-known classical conductor, has died at the age of 92
Bernard Haitink, a well-known Dutch musician, died at the age of 92 in his London home. In a 65-year career, he led the world’s best orchestras in London, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Dresden. Haitink, who was born in Amsterdam in 1929, won numerous awards and was a prominent player in the UK’s classical music scene. His performances with the London Symphony Orchestra were praised as “ravishing” even in his final months on the podium.
Over 450 recordings were created by Haitink, who considered his task as embracing the orchestra without suffocating it.
Late Thursday night, his management organisation announced his death, adding that one of his generation’s most renowned conductors had died peacefully at his home.
Bernard Haitink made his name as a conductor in the Netherlands, where he began his artistic career as a violinist after spending much of his childhood under Nazi occupation.
His big break came with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and he was appointed to lead the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam six years later. He was the orchestra’s chief conductor for 27 years, and was known for his Mahler and Bruckner performances.
It’s as though the electricity goes on when he takes up the baton, “his wife Patricia once commented. “When it’s over, he’ll have to face himself again.”
Haitink has performed with nearly all of the world’s major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Opera, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the United Kingdom.
Bruckner’s 65-minute Seventh Symphony was his first Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in 1966, and he performed the same symphony for the last time there 53 years later. Haitink was known in the United States for his work with the Chicago and Boston Symphony orchestras, as well as in Germany for his leadership of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Berlin Philharmonic.