Who we are
About the Residentie Orkest
The birth of the Residentie Orkest
On the afternoon of Sunday 20 November 1904, founder Henri Viotta conducted the first official performance of the Residentie Orkest at the Gebouw voor Kunsten & Wetenschappen.
The lawyer, conductor, composer and conservatoire director had spent twelve years advocating the importance of music in society and forming a first-class orchestra in The Hague.
The programme included Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. This photo shows the orchestra on its tenth anniversary.
Top musicians to The Hague
After a number of financially difficult years, the Residentie Orkest entered a golden age. In the summers, top musicians would travel to Scheveningen to perform with the orchestra at the Kurzaal.
Composers such as Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Paul Hindemith and Béla Bartók came to conduct their own works. Guest conductors included Georg Szell, Bruno Walter, Antal Doráti and Hans Knappertsbusch.
Pictured here is Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini leading the orchestra at the Gebouw voor Kunsten & Wetenschappen (1938).
Leonard Bernstein
In 1947, just after World War II, the Residentie Orkest co-organised a one-time summer festival called High Arts in the Low Lands, the precursor of the annual Holland Festival.
In the same year, Leonard Bernstein – only 29 years old – made his Dutch orchestra debut with the Residentie Orkest. He memorably filled in for the soloist at the last minute, playing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G while conducting from the piano.
Chief conductor Willem van Otterloo
Chief conductor Willem van Otterloo and the Residentie Orkest were a perfect match. In the many years under his leadership, the orchestra earned a reputation for combining outstanding performance with innovative programming. He also introduced regular concerts for children in The Hague.
Van Otterloo gained international recognition with his extensive concert tours, including a US tour in 1963. His vinyl recordings of 125 compositions with the Residentie Orkest are still relevant today.
Spuiplein
After the Gebouw voor Kunsten & Wetenschappen burned down in 1964, the Residentie Orkest moved from venue to venue for years. The new Nederlands Congresgebouw turned out to be a less than ideal home for the orchestra, and the idea of building its own concert hall arose. To pay for it, the orchestra organised fundraising campaigns like the Bouw Mee concerts.
In September 1987, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands opened the Dr. Anton Philipszaal. She attended the opening concert led by chief conductor Hans Vonk, featuring works such as Ravel's Second Suite from Daphnis et Chloé and Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps.
Chief conductor Anja Bihlmaier
Following in the footsteps of renowned conductors like Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, Neeme Järvi and Nicholas Collon, Germany's Anja Bihlmaier became chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest in 2021.
Bihlmaier is considered a rapidly rising star in the international conducting world. In her first season, she conducted works such as Mahler's Fourth Symphony and Verdi's impressive Requiem.
Amare
In 2015, the orchestra moved again, to the temporary Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen. Construction began on a new home for the Residentie Orkest, Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Conservatoire The Hague and Stichting Amare on Spui.
This beating heart of The Hague's cultural life, named Amare, was completed in autumn 2021. It was opened by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. Its Concert Hall seats 1,500 people.







"The score, telling the musical story – it's everything to me. Because it doesn't need any words, music is an endless source of inspiration and imagination."
- Wouter Vossen - concertmaster
Meet the Orchestra



Ilya Warenberg

Pieter van Loenen

Naomi Bach

Alexandra Bons

Orges Caku

Yuki Hayakashi

Agnes Houtsmuller

Momoko Noguchi

Irene Piazza

Francisca Portugal

Pieter Verschuijl

Hester van der Vlugt

Justyna Briefjes

Gerard Spronk

Barbara Krimmel

Ben Legebeke

Remus Rimbu

Abel Rodriguez Garcia

Sergiy Starzhynskiy

Cato Went

Diederik van Wassenaer

Hannah Strijbos

Timur Yakubov

Jozefien Dumortier

Moira Bette

Jan Buizer

Jieun Kim

Elisabeth Runge

Tanja Trede

Iteke Wijbenga

Roger Regter

Gideon den Herder


Justa de Jong

Miriam Kirby

Tom van Lent

Sven Weyens

Frank Dolman

Jorge Hernàndez

Jos Tieman

Astrid Schrijner

Martine van der Loo

Eline van Esch

Rieneke Brink

Janneke Groesz

Roger Cramers

Bárbara Patrício

Hilje van der Vliet

Alexander van Eerdewijk

Hans Colbers

Arno Stoffelsma

Jasper Grijpink

Dorian Cooke

Gretha Tuls

Simon Vandenbroecke

Erik Reinders

René Pagen

Ron Schaaper

Liz Hunfeld-Chell

Mirjam Steinmann

Erwin ter Bogt

Robert-Jan Hoffman

Timothy Dowling

Arno Schipdam

Wouter Iseger

Elias Gustafsson
Meet the Staff

Sven Arne Tepl

Miranda van Drie


Lucienne Bax

Marie-Noëlle Spaan

Sana van Iddekinge

Nynke Schreurs

Sebastiaan van Kempen

Patrick Kockelkoren

Harm Jan Schwantje

Nadia Frissen

Albert Scholte

Gijs Oudshoorn

Floortje Gerritsen

Jos van den Bogert

Ruth van de Putte

Marieke Meliesie

Maaike van der Wel

Leonidas Zhupali

Leontien Kröner-van Selms

Linda Grau

Maartje Verhoeven

Annemieke Quast

Jan Jaap Zwitser

Nick van Silfhout

Raymond Soerodikromo

Maurits Musch

Annelise Reid

Nathan Westland

Voline van Teeseling

Jorne van Bergeijk

Michiel Hazeleger

Lizette ten Katen-Brak

Céu Lopes
A place where talent thrives
Would you like to be part of our talented orchestra? We are regulary on the lookout for new talent!

