Residentie Orkest
Orchestra
The official starting date of the Residentie Orkest was on the afternoon of Sunday November 20, 1904, when founder Henri Viotta raised his baton in the Building for Arts & Sciences. At that point, the lawyer, conductor, composer, and conservatory director had been committed to increasing the impact of music on society for 12 years. He realized the necessity of an exceptional orchestra in The Hague. From 1949 the orchestra managed to acquire an international reputation with chief conductors such as Willem van Otterloo, Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Jevgeni Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, and Neeme Järvi. From 2018, the young Nicholas Collon was chief conductor and from 2021, the German conductor Anja Bihlmaier.