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Vincent DE KORT |
In 1995 the Dutch conductor Vincent de Kort, at the invitation of Mariss
Jansons, made his debut conducting the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. This
rapidly led to further engagements with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the
Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, and other Dutch orchestras including
the Noord Nederlands Orkest, Limburgs Symfonie Orkest, Orkest van het
Oosten, Brabants Orkest.
He has since invited by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, New Japan Philharmonic, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Johannesburg Philharmonic, KZN Philharmonic Orchestra Durban, European Sinfoniëtta, the Symphonisches Orchester Zürich, as well as the European Union Youth Orchestra, in which he had formerly been a cellist, under the direction of Claudio Abbado.
Having studied with Ed Spanjaard in The Hague and Mariss Jansons in Oslo, he was invited to St. Petersburg to study with the legendary teacher of Valery Gergiev, Professor Ilya Musin and was the assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
When he became the assistant to early music specialist William Christie, Vincent de Kort deepened his knowledge of baroque music. With his experience of baroque, classical and the romantic repertoire, he is now widely respected for leading orchestras in specific period-style performances. In consequence Vincent de Kort has received the highest praise for his dynamic interpretations of the Mozart operas:
Of his Don Giovanni in 2006 the Dutch newspaper Trouw wrote: 'An overflowing Concertgebouw was almost dancing on the seats with pleasure ...the performance sparkled, cavorted and buzzed'. About his Cosi fan tutte in Edinburgh Scotland's The Herald quoted: 'Dutch conductor Vincent de Kort is a real discovery!', then later after Die Zauberflöte: ...'a brillliant conductor! ...he makes the Scottish Opera Orchestra sound like a tight, racy period band - don't be late or you'll miss the overture!'. Holland's Volkskrant wrote of his Le Nozze di Figaro: ' Vincent de Kort is the ideal theatre-conductor'.
In Rameau, Rossini, Rodolphe, Mahler or Wagner, Vincent de Kort strives
to create stylistic performances which has lead him to guest at Scottish
Opera (Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte), Oper Leipzig (Jason et
Médée), Tokyo (Le Nozze di Figaro), Luzerne (Peter Grimes)
and the Dutch Nationale Reisopera, where he has conducted Die Zauberflöte,
Die lustige Witwe and Peter Schat’s Monkey Subdues the White-bone
Demon. For the Semperoper Dresden he has conducted Puccini's La Bohème,
in Johannesburg an acclaimed Aida and Khumalo's contemporary Zulu opera
Princess Magogo. In the Robeco summer series in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw,
de Kort has led performances of Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die
Entführung aus dem Serail, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. At the State
Opera of Tatarstan, he has conducted a vast repertoire including La Traviata,
Falstaff, Aida and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. Following the Boris Godunov
production in 2003 he was honoured by the president with the State Medal
of the republic of Tatarstan.