Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink’s conducting career began 60 years ago with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in his native Holland. He went on to be Chief Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra for 27 years, as well as Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is Patron of the Radio Philharmonic, and Conductor Emeritus of the Boston Symphony, as well as an honorary member of both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

The 2014/15 season began with an anniversary concert with the Radio Philharmonic in the Concertgebouw, and will include return visits to the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, opening their season with the Missa Solemnis, four programmes with the London Symphony Orchestra in London, Madrid and Paris, and the conclusion of a Brahms cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Amsterdam and Paris. He also conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, and revisits the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras.

He is committed to the development of young musical talent, and gives an annual Conducting Masterclass at the Lucerne Easter Festival. This season in addition he gives conducting classes to students of the Hochschule der Kunst, Zurich in collaboration with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and a workshop with students from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in conjunction with players from the London Symphony Orchestra.

Bernard Haitink has an extensive discography for Phillips, Decca and EMI, as well as the many new live recording labels established by orchestras themselves in recent years, such as the London Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Bayerischer Rundfunk. He has received many awards and honours in recognition of his services to music, including several honorary doctorates, an honorary Knighthood and Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom, and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands.