NZSO announces new Music Director Edo de Waart

29 June 2015

NZSO announces new Music Director Edo de Waart

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is delighted to announce that esteemed Dutch conductor Edo de Waart will assume the role ofNZSO Music Director from 2016.

NZSO Chief Executive, Christopher Blake says: “Maestro Edo de Waart is a well regarded and acclaimed conductor working at the highest level internationally. He has a prolific and illustrious conducting career spanning five decades and he has worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

“The NZSO is delighted to begin its exciting new artistic relationship with Maestro de Waart and be part of his enduring contribution to the world of music making. We look forward to presenting more exhilarating orchestral music under his distinguished leadership in future Seasons.”

Edo de Waart will begin his tenure with the NZSO next March when he conducts Mahler’s masterwork Symphony No. 3. He will then take Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’ and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 on his inaugural tour as Music Director to eight centres around the country. Concertgoers can expect to hear some of the world’s most compelling orchestral works by composers such as Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart and Strauss in future NZSO Seasons, hand-picked from de Waart’s extensive repertoire.

Edo de Waart is currently Chief Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He has previously been Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also Chief Conductor of De Nederlandse Opera.

Maestro Edo de Waart says: “I am delighted to deepen my artistic relationship with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra - an orchestra I have come to know well over the years. We share a common bond - a mutual love and respect for excellent music-making and a desire to share this spirit with all New Zealanders. We want to give New Zealanders the opportunity to have unforgettable musical experiences.”

Edo de Waart most recently toured Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Auckland with the NZSO in August last year when he conducted Mahler’s final Symphony No. 9. He also visited New Zealand in 2007 conducting Rachmaninov’s expansive Symphony No. 2 and in 2004, he made his NZSO debut conducting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with piano sensation Lang Lang.

Maestro de Waart has consistently been praised in the New Zealand press:

…there were many blistering eruptions, for which De Waart drew on the sinew and Rolls-Royce precision of the NZSO players.
William Dart, NZ Herald, Mahler 9, 2014.

De Waart has a wonderfully compact conducting technique, but one that communicates every possible nuance and the players responded in kind.
John Button, Dominion Post, Mahler 9, 2014.

NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen says performing under de Waart’s musical leadership is a rewarding and exhilarating experience.

“Maestro Edo de Waart is well respected and revered by musicians worldwide. His new role as NZSO Music Director is a fantastic appointment for the NZSO, welcomed wholeheartedly by the players. I have enjoyed his previous tours immensely and I look forward to performing more exciting music under his baton next year.”

More about Maestro Edo de Waart >

ENDS

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