Vonk, Hans

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Vonk, Hans

Vonk, Hans, prominent Dutch conductor; b. Amsterdam, June 18, 1942. He studied law at the Univ. of Amsterdam, took courses in piano, conducting, and composition at the Amsterdam Cons., then studied conducting with Scherchen and Ferrara. From 1966 to 1973 he was conductor of the Netherlands National Ballet; he was also asst. conductor of the Concertge-bouw Orch. in Amsterdam. In 1974 Vonk made his U.S. debut as a guest conductor with the San Francisco Sym. Orch. He was conductor of the Netherlands Radio Phil. in Hilversum (1973-79) and assoc. conductor of the Royal Phil. in London (1976-79). He served as chief conductor of the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam (1976-85) and of the Residentie Orch. in The Hague (1980-85). He appeared regularly as a guest conductor with the Dresden State Orch. and Opera from 1980; and he was permanent conductor (1984-85) and chief conductor (1985-91) of the Dresden State Opera, and also chief conductor of the Dresden State Orch. (1985-91). From 1991 to 1997 Vonk was chief conductor of the Cologne Radio Sym. Orch. In 1996 he became music director of the St. Louis Sym. Orch.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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