The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1945 by the conductor Albert van Raalte, and has since then performed under its artistic directors Paul van Kempen, Bernard Haitink, Jean Fournet, Willem van Otterloo, Hans Vonk and Sergiu Comissiona, each of whom contributed in his own way to the orchestra’s musical growth. Over the years the orchestra has played under conductors of international repute, including Kirill Kondrashin, Antal Doráti, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Mariss Jansons, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Peter Eötvös and Valery Gergiev.
Edo de Waart became chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in 1989. In December 2004, after a lengthy association with the orchestra, he took his official leave from the orchestra and was proffered the title of conductor laureate and the promise to return regularly as guest conductor. His successor is Jaap van Zweden, who took up the position of chief conductor in January 2005.
Mark Wigglesworth studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London before winning the Kondrashin Conducting Competition in the Netherlands in 1989. Since then the orchestras he has worked with include the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. In opera he has performed the three Mozart/da Ponte Operas for Opera Factory, Elektra and The Rake’s Progress at Welsh National Opera, Peter Grimes, La Bohème and Figaro at Glyndebourne, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Falstaff and Così fan tutte at English National Opera, Peter Grimes for the Netherlands Opera and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
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Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
