Het Residentie Orkest (; known also in English as ''Residentie Orkest The Hague'') is a Dutch orchestra based in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. The orchestra is currently resident at the Amare performing arts centre in The Hague.

History

Henri Viotta founded the orchestra in 1904. Its early home was the ''Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen'' (K & W). The orchestra received its first acclaim during the 1911

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

Festival, in which the composer himself conducted some of his works. The orchestra soon attracted other composers such as

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, and

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

. In 1915, the Residentie Orchestra took over the summertime performances of the Kurzaal Concerts in Scheveningen from the Orchestre Lamoureux. The orchestra's second chief conductor was the composer and conductor Peter van Anrooy, from 1917 until his resignation in 1935. Frits Schuurman became the next chief conductor, holding the post through

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war,

Willem van Otterloo Jan Willem van Otterloo (27 December 190727 July 1978) was a Dutch conductor, cello, cellist and composer. Biography Van Otterloo was born in Winterswijk, Gelderland, in the Netherlands, the son of William Frederik van Otterloo, a railway inspe ...

led the orchestra as chief conductor from 1949 to 1973. After the K & W was destroyed in a fire in 1964, 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"'' ("build along") recordings, culminated in the construction of a new hall for the orchestra, the Dr. Anton Philipszaal, which was named after Anton Frederik Philips, co-founder of Philips Electronics. The orchestra took up residence in the Dr. Anton Philipszaal in September 1987, in a ceremony where the hall was formally opened in the presence of

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

. From 2015 to 2021, the orchestra gave concerts at the ''Zuiderstrandtheater'' in Scheveningen. Succeeding Van Otterloo as chief conductors were Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, and Evgeny Svetlanov. Jaap van Zweden, chief conductor from 2000 to 2005, now has the title of honorary guest conductor (''ere-gastdirigent'') with the orchestra.

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

was chief conductor from 2005 to 2012, and subsequently held the title of chief conductor emeritus. In April 2013, the orchestra appointed Richard Egarr as its principal guest conductor (''vaste gastdirigent'') for an initial period of 3 years. In March 2014, the orchestra announced the elimination of the post of chief conductor and the formation of a new conductor hierarchy. In parallel, the orchestra announced the appointment of Jan Willem de Vriend to the post of ''vaste dirigent'' (principal conductor), effective 1 August 2015, for approximately 6 weeks per season with an initial contract of 4 years. In June 2015, the orchestra announced the appointment of Nicholas Collon as co-principal conductor, effective 1 August 2016, for a minimum term of 3 years, with 6 weeks of appearances per season. In June 2017, the orchestra announced Collon's appointment as its sole chief conductor and artistic advisor, effective 1 August 2018, with a minimum of 8 weeks of appearances per season. In parallel, de Vriend is to continue his formal relationship with the orchestra through the summer of 2019. Collon is scheduled to conclude his chief conductorship of the Residentie Orchestra at the close of the 2020–2021 season. The orchestra has undertaken several major tours which included cities such as

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. It has performed under guest conductors including

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Hans Knappertsbusch Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss. Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Ger ...

, Carl Schuricht,

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

, and

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...

. The orchestra has commercially recorded works by Dutch composers such as Alphons Diepenbrock and Johannes Verhulst. A selection of recordings made during the fifties at the Amsterdam

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

under the baton of Willem van Otterloo has been issued on CD in 2007. The orchestra made its first appearance at

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in September 2008. In October 2012, the city council of The Hague announced a reduction in the municipal subsidy for the orchestra, from 5.1 million € to 3.5 million €. The orchestra subsequently expressed concerns of consequences to the orchestra such as job losses for a number of the musicians, and diminished representation of larger-scale symphonic works in the orchestra's concert repertoire. In November 2018, Anja Bihlmaier first guest-conducted the orchestra. Based on this appearance, in May 2019, the orchestra announced the appointment of Bihlmaier as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2021–2022 season. She is the first female conductor to be named chief conductor of the orchestra, and the second female conductor to be named chief conductor of a Dutch orchestra. In parallel with the appointment of Bihlmaier, the orchestra simultaneously announced the appointment of Jun Märkl as principal guest conductor, alongside Richard Egarr. In September 2021, the orchestra, conducted by Bihlmaier, gave its first performance at the new Amare performing arts centre in The Hague, the new performing venue for the orchestra. In December 2023, the orchestra announced that Bihlmaier is to stand down as its chief conductor at the close of the 2024-2025 season, and the appointment of Märkl as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2025-2026 season, with an initial contract of 4 years.

Conductors

Chief Conductors

* Henri Viotta (1904–1917) * Peter van Anrooy (1917–1935) * Frits Schuurman (1938–1949) *

(1949–1973) * Jean Martinon (1974–1976) * Ferdinand Leitner (1976–1980) * Hans Vonk (1980–1992) * Evgeny Svetlanov (1993–2000) * Jaap van Zweden (2000–2005) *

(2005–2012) * Nicholas Collon (2018–2021) * Anja Bihlmaier (2021–2025) * Jun Märkl (2025–present)

Honorary guest conductor

* Jaap van Zweden (2005–present)

Principal guest conductors

* Carl Schuricht (1930–1939) * George Szell (1937–1939) * Hiroyuki Iwaki (1969–1974) * Alain Lombard (1979–1989) * Günther Herbig (1990–1996) * Oliver Knussen (1992–1996) * George Pehlivanian (1996–1998) * Richard Egarr (2013–present) * Jan Willem de Vriend (2015–2019) * Nicholas Collon (2016–2018) * Jun Märkl (2021–2025)

References

External links

Official orchestra web site

Fugro Corporation 2001 corporate report, which includes background information on Het Residentie Orkest

Wilma Roest, Radio Netherlands Music biography of Peter van Anrooy

{{Authority control Dutch symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1904 1904 establishments in the Netherlands Musical groups from The Hague Organisations based in The Hague