The St. Louis Symphony, which came to be regarded as one of the best American orchestras during the 25-year directorship of Leonard Slatkin, has appointed the Dutch conductor Hans Vonk as its next music director, the orchestra announced. Vonk is to succeed Slatkin starting with the 1996-97 season, when Slatkin is to take over the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.
Vonk's three-year contract requires him to conduct for 12 to 16 of the orchestra's 24 annual subscription weeks. Slatkin will be conductor emeritus through Vonk's first term.Vonk, 52, is also the chief conductor of the Cologne Radio Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He has been principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Dresden State Opera, and the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague.
The St. Louis directorship has been a matter of considerable speculation since last year when Slatkin announced his eventual departure. Slatkin, 50, had made the orchestra a force in the recording world, and had capitalized on his connection, as an American, to the 20th-century American repertory.
But the possibility that another American conductor would succeed him was slim from the start, since few in Slatkin's generation had achieved his celebrity and the orchestra did not want to be seen as the proving ground for young talent that it had been in Slatkin's early years. The leading contenders - Christof Perick, Franz Welser-Moest, Ivan Fisher and Vonk - were all European. By October it was clear that Vonk was the favorite of the players and the 24-man search committee.