Orchestral conducting In 1964, at the age of 23, De Waart won the
Dimitris Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York. As part of his prize, he served for one year as assistant conductor to
Leonard Bernstein at the
New York Philharmonic. On his return to the Netherlands, he was appointed assistant conductor of the
Concertgebouw Orchestra under
Bernard Haitink. In 1967, he was appointed conductor of both the
Netherlands Wind Ensemble and
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and was the latter's music director from 1973 to 1979. De Waart made his début at the
San Francisco Symphony in 1975. A year later, he became principal guest conductor, and from 1977 to 1985 he was its music director. From 1986 to 1995, he was music director of the
Minnesota Orchestra. In 1989, De Waart returned to the Netherlands, where he was appointed music director of the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He resigned from the post in 2004 and subsequently took the title of conductor laureate of the orchestra. De Waart became chief conductor and artistic adviser of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1993, and served in the post until 2003. While in Sydney, De Waart made no secret of his dislike of the acoustics of the
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, the orchestra's home, saying, "if there is no clear intention to do something to improve the hall, then we really seriously have to look at another venue". In 2004, De Waart became
artistic director and chief conductor of the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He concluded his Hong Kong tenure in 2012. In January 2008, De Waart was named music director of the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and he assumed the post in September 2009. In March 2008, the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra announced De Waart as an Artistic Partner with the orchestra for the 2010–11 season. In April 2010, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of De Waart's contract through the 2016–17 season. In the same month, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (deFilharmonie) announced De Waart's appointment as chief conductor for six seasons beginning in 2012. He formally began his chief conductorship of deFilharmonie (now:
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra) in 2011, a year earlier than originally scheduled. In November 2014, deFilharmonie announced that De Waart's tenure as chief conductor would conclude after the 2015–2016 season. In February 2015, the Milwaukee Symphony announced the conclusion of De Waart's music directorship after the 2016–2017 season. He now has the title of conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony. In June 2015, the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of De Waart as its next music director. He led his first concerts as NZSO music director in March 2016. He conducted his final concerts as NZSO music director in November 2019, and took the title of music director laureate in 2020. In January 2015, De Waart first guest-conducted the
San Diego Symphony. In January 2019, the orchestra announced the appointment of De Waart as its first-ever principal guest conductor, effective with the 2019–2020 season. On 10 April 2024, De Waart announced his retirement.
Opera De Waart was a frequent conductor of opera, making his first appearance at the
Santa Fe Opera in 1971, in a production of
The Flying Dutchman. He debuted at the
Houston Grand Opera in 1975, the
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden in 1976, and the
Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1979. From 1970, he conducted
Netherlands Opera (DNO) frequently. In 1980, he directed a
Ring cycle at the
San Francisco Opera. In March 2002, De Waart announced his departure in 2004 as chief conductor of the DNO, a position he had occupied since 1999. In giving his reason for leaving, De Waart mentioned his desire to spend time with his two small children. But in an interview with the newspaper
Trouw he also mentioned his disagreement with DNO director
Pierre Audi's conceptual staging of
Lohengrin and
Robert Wilson's planned
Madama Butterfly, saying he missed "humanity" and "emotion in the direction." In July 2007, Santa Fe Opera named De Waart their chief conductor, effective 1 October 2007. His initial contract was for four years, during which time he conducted the 2008 production of
Billy Budd. However, in November 2008, Santa Fe Opera announced De Waart's resignation, to occur before the end of his contract, no earlier than the end of the 2009 season. De Waart cited health and family reasons for this decision.
Repertoire An avid promoter of
contemporary music, De Waart led premieres of works by
John Adams, whose opera
Nixon in China he has recorded;
Steve Reich, whose
Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards he has recorded; and others in San Francisco.
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Symphony No. 2 is dedicated to him. ==Recordings==