Milwaukee taps de Waart

Edo de Waart, the widely traveled Dutch conductor, has been named music director-designate of the Milwaukee Symphony. He succeeds Andreas Delfs, who will leave the orchestra after the 2008-09 season.

The 66-year-old de Waart, onetime oboist and assistant conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, has directed the Rotterdam Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Netherlands Opera. Since 2004 he has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Next season he will become chief conductor of the Santa Fe Opera, replacing Alan Gilbert, the next music director of the New York Philharmonic.

After winning the Dmitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition, de Waart served in 1965-66 under Leonard Bernstein at the NY Phil as one of two assistant conductors. The other was Jacques Houtmann, later music director of the Richmond Symphony.