Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink died October 21 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).
More about Bernard Haitink at the Mahler Foundation website.