Willem van Otterloo

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Willem van Otterloo (December 27, 1907 – July 27, 1978) was a Dutch conductor and composer.

Van Otterloo was born in Winterswijk, The Netherlands, the son of William Frederik van Otterloo, a railway inspector, and his wife Anna Catharina Enderlé. He qualified to study medicine at the University of Utrecht but switched to studying cello and composition at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. While playing as a cellist in the Utrecht Stedelijk Orkest (City Orchestra), he won a composition prize from the Concertgebouw Orchestra for his Suite No. 3, a work the premiere of which constituted Van Otterloo's conducting debut with that august orchestra in 1932. He held posts with the Utrecht Stedelijk Orkest, before being appointed chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague (1949-1973). In 1971 he was appointed to the conductorship of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Particularly prized for his performances of newer music, he made recordings both in The Netherlands and in Australia.

Van Otterloo was married twice in The Netherlands, both marriages ending in divorce. In 1970 he married Carola Gertie Ludewig in Australia. In 1978 he died in a Melbourne car crash. He was survived by his wife and by five children from his first two marriages.