Residentie Orchestra
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The Residentie Orchestra of the Hague is a Dutch orchestra founded in 1904 by Henri Viotta. It received its first acclaim during the 1911 Richard Strauss Festival, in which the composer himself conducted some of his works. The orchestra soon attracted other composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Max Reger, Maurice Ravel, and Paul Hindemith.
In 1915, the Residentie Orchestra took over the summertime performances of the Kurzaal Concerts in Scheveningen from the Lamoureux Orchestra. The orchestra's second chief conductor was the composer and conductor Peter van Anrooy, from 1917 until his resignation in 1935.[1] Frits Schuurman became the next chief conductor, holding the post through World War II. After the war, Willem van Otterloo led the orchestra as chief conductor from 1949 to 1973. Succeeding Van Otterloo as chief conductors were Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgeny Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, and most recently Neeme Järvi.
The orchestra has undertaken several major tours which included cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Vienna, Munich and Berlin. It has performed under guest conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Hans Knappertsbusch, Carl Schuricht[2], Arturo Toscanini, and Bruno Walter. On recent recordings the Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert presented works by Dutch composers from the 19th century, among them Johannes Verhulst. A selection of recordings made during the fifties at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under the baton of Willem van Otterloo has been issued on CD in 2005.
After the Arts and Sciences Building in The Hague burned down in 1967, the orchestra played in various venues around the city without a permanent home. A fund-raising campaign, which included the release of several recordings known as "bouw-mee" ("help us rebuild") recordings, culminated in the construction of a new hall for the orchestra, the Dr. Anton Philipszaal, where the orchestra began to reside in September 1987 and which formally opened in the presence of Queen Beatrix.
[edit] Chief Conductors
- Henri Viotta (1904 - 1917)
- Peter van Anrooy (1917 - 1935)
- Frits Schuurman (1938 - 1949)
- Willem van Otterloo (1949 - 1973)
- Jean Martinon (1975 - 1976)
- Ferdinand Leitner (1976 - 1980)
- Hans Vonk (1980 - 1991)
- Evgeny Svetlanov (1992 - 2000)
- Jaap van Zweden (2000 - 2005)
- Neeme Järvi (2005 - present)
