Opera
De Waart has also been a frequent conductor of opera. De Waart made his first conducting appearance at the Santa Fe Opera (SFO) 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 the 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 Netherlands Opera (DNO), a position he filled since 1999. In giving his reason for leaving, de Waart mentioned his desire to spend time with his two small children. However, de Waart also mentioned in an interview with the newspaper Trouw his disagreement with the conceptual staging of Lohengrin by DNO director Pierre Audi and the planned Madame Butterfly of Robert Wilson. De Waart said he missed "humanity" and "emotion in the direction."
In July 2007, the Santa Fe Opera named de Waart their chief conductor, effective 1 October 2007. His initial contract was for 4 years. However, in November 2008, SFO announced that de Waart would vacate the position 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.
In recent seasons, he has conducted a new production of Der Rosenkavalier for Opéra Bastille, The Magic Flute and Figaro for the Metropolitan Opera and Katya Kabanová, Werther, Peter Grimes, The Makropulos Affair, Madama Butterfly, Fidelio, Les Troyens in Amsterdam. Other recent productions include Boris Godunov for the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Figaro for the Salzburg Festival and Beatrice et Benedict for Santa Fe Opera. In Sydney, he led concert performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, a project which started in 1995 and culminated in performances of Götterdämmerung as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. He also conducted opera-in-concert performances of Richard Strauss' Salome and Elektra with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, to critical acclaim.
Read more about this topic: Edo De Waart
Famous quotes containing the word opera:
“The opera house sparkled with tiers
And tiers of eyes, like mine enlarged by belladonna,”
—James Merrill (b. 1926)
“I have witnessed, and greatly enjoyed, the first act of everything which Wagner created, but the effect on me has always been so powerful that one act was quite sufficient; whenever I have witnessed two acts I have gone away physically exhausted; and whenever I have ventured an entire opera the result has been the next thing to suicide.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“He rides in the Row at ten o’clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don’t call that leading an idle life, do you?”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)