Hans Vonk: 1941-2004

[robert_white]

Deepest sympathy to all that knew him or worked with him.

From the New York Times:

Hans Vonk, 63, Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony, Is Dead
By ALLAN KOZINN

Published: August 31, 2004

Hans Vonk, a Dutch conductor who was music director of the St. Louis Symphony from 1996 through 2002, helping maintain the orchestra's reputation with interpretations of Romantic and modern works, died on Sunday at his home in Amsterdam. He was 63.

Jeff Trammel, a spokesman for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, said the cause was an unnamed neurological disease. It was this disorder, which is similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, widely known as Lou Gehrig's disease, that forced Mr. Vonk to step down from the St. Louis podium at what many consider the height of his interpretive powers.

Before moving to St. Louis, Mr. Vonk had positions with orchestras in Cologne, Dresden, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

He was always at his most eloquent in Romantic works, from Beethoven to Mahler, and it was with the Mahler Fourth Symphony that he made his final appearance with the St. Louis Symphony in May 2002. He was also a deft Mozartean and had an affinity for contemporary works by Dutch composers. He developed an interest in contemporary American music as well.

Mr. Vonk was born in Amsterdam on June 18, 1941. His father, a violinist in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, died when he was 3.

Mr. Vonk entered the University of Amsterdam as a law student, and supported himself during his student years as a jazz pianist. He quickly decided that the law was not for him and transferred to the Amsterdam Conservatory. His focus at first was the piano, but after accompanying some conducting classes during his third year, he decided to take up the baton himself.

Soon after his graduation in 1966, he became director of the Netherlands Ballet. In his first season there at the ballet, he met Jessie Folkerts, a prima ballerina, whom he married. She survives him, as does a sister, Irene Asscher of Amsterdam.

Mr. Vonk became an assistant conductor at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1969, and in 1973 he was appointed conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He took up the directorship of the Netherlands Opera in 1976, the same year he became an associate conductor at the Royal Philharmonic, in London. And in 1980 he was appointed chief conductor of the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague.

His acceptance of the dual directorships of the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Dresden Staatsoper, in 1985, seemed a promising move, but he soon regretted it. As a Western conductor working in East Germany, he was regularly undermined by party functionaries. However, his opening performance of Strauss's "Rosenkavalier'' at Dresden's newly rebuilt opera house was one of his signal achievements and was later released on CD.

Mr. Vonk took a year off from conducting in 1988, when he was found to have Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disease that causes muscular weakness. But he recovered sufficiently to take on two new positions, the directorship of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1990, and that of the Cologne Radio Symphony in 1991. He also expanded his international guest conducting schedule through the 1990's, and in 1996 he succeeded Leonard Slatkin as the music director of the St. Louis Symphony.

[_Don Herman]

Wow... Now I really wish I'd checked out the symphony last time I was back home... My sympathies, and prayers - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[MannyLaureano]

I am so sorry to have heard about Maestro Vonk's passing.

His guest appearances with us with always memorable. I played a variety of repertoire from Schoenberg to Rachmaninoff to Shostakovitch and much more. In fact, his last concert with us was the 10th of Shostakovitch and he was beginning to fell the effects of ALS. He handed over one of the concerts to one of our cover conductors as he was not able to do more than one per day and we were still playing two concerts a day, occasionally.

He was all business on the podium and not a man given to nonsense. I appreciated that about him as he was always well-prepared. That made his occasional lapses into wry humor that much more effective and welcome.

It's to bad he's gone, now. He was one of the good ones.

Manny Laureano
_________________
Liviu Librescu-1930-2007- Holocaust survivor and hero during VA Tech massacre

[6pk]

He was truely a great conductor, I worked with him in holland 2 years ago and he was obviously in a lot of pain but still produced a great performance. Fantastic sense of humour also. He was I believe up until 6months ago also the chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio symphony Orchestra as well as previously being directot of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

[brass2002]

Other than Hans Vonk, one of the greatest conductors Carlos Kleiber passed away two months ago.

[MannyLaureano]

WHAT!!?

I did not know that...I'm very sorry to hear that.

He was a very elusive figure...rarely came to the States if at all. His interpretations were packed with the kind of visceral energy that makes ours a job worth having.

Very sad...where have I been?

Manny Laureano
_________________
Liviu Librescu-1930-2007- Holocaust survivor and hero during VA Tech massacre