UPDATE: "Over the past five years the management, our planning department and Bernard Haitink have had contact on a regular basis. In the past years the flexibility which other prominent conductors offered to make concert sessions for Bernard Haitink has reached its reasonable limitation." -- RCO
Snubbed by his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, honorary conductor Bernard Haitink is cutting ties with the ensemble that made him.
The decision comes after the conductor claimed he was spurned at the RCO's 125th anniversary celebration.
In short, Haitink told Dutch newspaper Het Parool that the orchestra's management ignored him, making him feel humiliated and preciously unloved.
The 85-year-old maestro (whom, truth be told, has been at odds with the band for several seasons) stated that RCO management--particular CEO Jan Raes and artistic director Joel Fried--have demonstrated a supreme lack of "interest in the tradition."
Haitink began with the ensemble in 1957 and eventually made principal conductor in 1961, sharing the position with Eugen Jochum until his departure in 1963.
Again, this isn't the first time Haitink has felt slighted in Amsterdam. In the early 1980s, he threatened to leave under duress regarding payment disputes involving some of the RCO's core musicians.
Haitink will continue to conduct at Concertgebouw Hall, just with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra now.
So, with a little help from his former friends, let us savor Bernie's Beethoven from a less petulant time.
