Dutch conductor; b. Amsterdam, June 1, 1941. Waart was a member of a musical family. His father sang in the chorus of the Netherlands Opera. De Waart first studied piano, then at 13 took up the oboe. At 16, he entered the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, where he studied oboe and later cello, graduating in 1962. During the summer of 1960 he attended the conducting classes in Salzburg given by Dean Dixon.

De Waart played oboe in the Amsterdam Philharmonic in 1962-63, then joined the Concertgebouw Orchestra. He also studied conducting with Franco Ferrara in Hilversum, where he made his debut as a conductor with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1964. Later that year, De Waart went to the U.S. and was one of the winners in the Mitropoulos Competition in N.Y. In 1965-66 he was assistant conductor with the N.Y. Philharmonic.

Upon his return to Amsterdam in 1966, De Waart was appointed assistant conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, accompanying it on a tour of the U.S. in 1967. He also organized the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, with which he established his reputation through extensive tours.

In 1967 De Waart became a guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, serving, from 1973 to 1979, as its chief conductor. He led it on several tours of Europe and the U.S. In 1971, 1972, and 1975 he was a guest conductor of the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico and also conducted opera in Houston. In 1976 he conducted at Covent Garden in London.

In 1974 De Waart made a successful debut with the San Francisco Symphony, becoming its principal guest conductor in 1975 and its music director in 1977. In 1979 he made his first appearance at the Bayreuth Festival. He resigned as music director in San Francisco in 1986 to serve in that capacity with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis until 1995. At the same time, he held other positions in Zurich and Sydney, Australia.

On Jan. 24, 1998, Waart made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y., conducting Die Zauberflöte. From 1999 he was music director of the Netherlands Opera.

De Waart represents the modern generation of symphony and operatic conductors. He carefully follows each score, to present both classical and modern pieces as faithfully as possible. He avoids any unnecessary showmanship.