After a three-year search for a new music director, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has announced that 46-year-old Dutch conductor Otto Tausk will succeed outgoing VSO Maestro Bramwell Tovey.
Coinciding with the VSO’s 100th anniversary, Tausk will begin in his new role on July 1, 2018.
Tausk made his VSO debut in a concert featuring pianist Simon Trpceski in January 2016. In a statement to the Globe & Mail, he said he felt a rare and immediate connection with the Vancouver Symphony musicians. A month after the performance, the VSO asked him to return, leading to discussions for the possible appointment.
Born in Utrecht, Netherlands, Tausk originally began his career as a concert violinist. But after a conductor canceled a rehearsal at the last-minute for a planned performance, Tausk stepped in. He fell in love with the experience and decided to retire his violin, picking up the baton fulltime.
He has since gone on to lead the Orchestra and Opera of St. Gallen, Switzerland (2012–2017), the Holland Symfonia (2007-2012), and served as assistant conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (2004-2006).
Bramwell Tovey will leave a significant legacy at the VSO, and his shoes will be hard to fill. He has led the nearly 100-year-old orchestra to become the largest arts organization in western Canada, and the third largest symphony in the country. Tovey will end his 18-year tenure as the orchestras longest-serving conductor.
Tovey not be retiring, however, and has plans to guest conduct, perform as a pianist, and compose.
In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Tausk said he would continue to build on Tovey’s work, but admitted the transition period would take time.
“We need to get to know each other very well. My main focus, in the beginning, will be to try to make the orchestra feel and play like a really tight, small ensemble, even in big pieces,” he told the Vancouver Sun.
See here for a video in which Tausk explains his approach to conducting.
With a wife and two young children, Tausk has decided not to relocate to Vancouver and instead will commute from his current home in the Netherlands.
[Correction – Feb. 3, 5 p.m.: A previous versions stated Tausk first performed in Vancouver with Simone Lamsma. It was in fact, with pianist Simon Trpceski.]
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