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The Dutch conductor and pianist, Eduard Philip Spanjaard (Ed Spanjaard), was born in 1948 in Haarlem. His father was a psychiatrist and amateur pianist; and his mother a flautist and music teacher. He studied at the Conservatorium van de Vereniging Muzieklyceum at Amsterdam, and then at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. During his studies he was, in addition to conducting amateur ensembles like the Leids Studenten Kamer Orkest (LeSKO), assistant to Bernard Haitink (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, and Herbert von Karajan.
From 1973, Ed Spanjaard worked as répétiteur of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (under Sir Colin Davis, among others). In 1978, he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte during the Glyndebourne Festival. In 1980 and 1981 he was assistant-conductor to Herbert von Karajan at the Salzburger Festspiele. For the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1983, he was the assistant of Georg Solti in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, which laid the foundation for his work in the opera. For several years, he was principal guest conductor of the Nederlands Balletorkest and the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest (LSO) (1982-1988), and has directed almost all Dutch orchestras. Since 1982, he has been Principal Conductor of the Nieuw Ensemble, which was awarded the Prins Bernardfonds muziekprijs in 1998.
In 2001, Ed Spanjaard made his official debut at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This successful collaboration has since led to frequent return engagements. He has also appeared as guest conductor all over the world with many leading orchestras, such as the Münchner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble InterContemporain (Paris), Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), KlangForum Wien, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the 18th Century (Così fan tutte). In recent years he has conducted in the contemporary and classical repertoire. In the Netherlands he directed Verdi's Rigoletto with the De Nederlandse Opera, Charles Gounod's Faust and Verdi's Don Carlos with the Nationale Reisopera and with the Opera Zuid Puccini's La Bohème and Madame Butterfly as well as Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. Also with the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and abroad (Canada) he made several opera productions. In 2000 at the Rotterdam Ahoy he conducted the Nederlands Balletorkest in Verdi's La Traviata and Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes with the Nationale Reisopera. He premiered the chamber-operas Wolf Cub Village and Night Banquet from the Chinese composer Guo Wenjing with the New Ensemble. In 2004, he was invited by the opera of Lyon to conduct Claude Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélissande.
During a state visit of Queen Beatrix in 1995, Ed Spanjaard conducted Gustav Mahler's Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Symphony No. 1 in cooperation with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly performs with the Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris and with the Klangforum Wien. In 2000 he conducted the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt am Main, with great success which was praised by the press. In February 2002 he took care of the musical accompaniment for the wedding of Prince Willem-Alexander and Máxima Zorreguieta. She was particularly moved by Adiós Nonino from Ástor Piazzolla with Carel Kraayenhof on bandoneón. The success of the performance led to another CD recording with the same performers, including the Concertgebouw Kamerorkest and the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
From August 2001 until 2013, Ed Spanjaard was Chief Conductor anf artistic advisor of the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest, which has merged into the Philharmonie Zuidnederland. Together with the LSO he performed Hans Zender's composed interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise in September 2003 during the Musica Sacra festival in Maastricht. This performance received praise from the national press and was considered the highlight of the festival. A CD recording of the LSO and the Nederlands Kamerkoor with compositions by Gabriel Fauré was also highly praised.
In 2009 Ed Spanjaard conducted Das Rheingold, of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Nationale Reisopera and Orkest van het Oosten in Enschedé where in 2010 he conducted Die Walküre. In July 2016, he was appointed Chief Conductor of Orkest van het Oosten starting from season 2017-2018, following Jan Willem de Vriend.
Ed Spanjaard was appointed Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Amsterdam University of the Arts in September 2012. |
