About this Artist

EDO DE WAART is Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He finishes his tenure with Royal Flemish Philharmonic at the end of the 2015/16 season and takes the title of Conductor Laureate. 

Regular guest conducting appearances include the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. 

In addition to his existing posts, he was previously Music Director of the the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony; he returns to the latter two orchestras this season. He was also Chief Conductor of De Nederlandse Opera. 

As an opera conductor, de Waart has enjoyed success in a large and varied repertoire in many of the world’s greatest opera houses. He has conducted at Bayreuth, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra de Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. His most recent appearance at The Met was for performances of Le nozze di Figaro and he will work on further projects with them in future seasons. He brings semi-staged and concert opera performances to his programming with his own orchestras, and he regularly conducts opera with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam matinee series, where this season his programs include Brahms’ German Requiem and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.2. 

Edo de Waart’s extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc, and RCA. His most recent recordings are Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, both with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. 

Beginning his career as an Assistant Conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic, de Waart then returned to Holland where he was appointed Assistant Conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1973 he was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Edo de Waart has received a number of awards for his musical achievements, including becoming a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion and an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.