Maestro move (2): EU announces Ashkenazy replacement

The European Union Youth Orchestra, hit by Vladimir Ashkenazy’s walkout two weeks ago, has scrambled up a substitute partnership. Liverpool’s Vasily Petrenko will be chief conductor, with Bernard Haitink as conductor laureate.

Press release below.

The European Union Youth Orchestra is delighted to announce that Vasily Petrenko will take up the position of Chief Conductor of the Orchestra in September 2015 and that Bernard Haitink CH, KBE, is appointed as Conductor Laureate of the EUYO with immediate effect.

Vasily Petrenko has established an impressive relationship with the Orchestra over a number of years. Last summer he took over a demanding and varied set of programmes with the EUYO at short notice to great critical acclaim at the BBC Proms and elsewhere in Europe. He will lead the Orchestra in projects on a regular basis in future years, working with the EUYO to help plan its music programme and ensure the maintenance of the highest standards in all aspects of its artistic work. His achievements as Chief Conductor Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor Mikhailovsky Theatre St Petersburg have shown him to have exceptional skills, both as a conductor and also as a leader of orchestras.