Bernard Haitink Named Musician of the Year By Susan Elliott MusicalAmerica.com December 21, 2006 NEW YORK -- The Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts announced its annual awards last night, naming Dutch conductor and recently appointed Chicago Symphony Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink as Musician of the Year. 'I don't exactly climb into jets easily,' Haitink joked as he accepted the award at a reception at Lincoln Center, 'but when they told me I had to be here or not get the award, vanity told me I had to be here.' Haitink, 77, is among the field's most distinguished conductors; his recent exploration of the complete Beethoven Symphony cycle with the London Symphony, both in performance and on recording for LSO Live, has garnered high praise. He is also closely allied with the Boston Symphony, and served as its principal guest conductor from 1995 to 2004. Other affiliations include Covent Garden and a long tenure as music director of the Concertgebouw. Haitink has made hundreds of orchestral and opera recordings with major international ensembles. Vocalist of the Year Barbara Cook's comments were both poignant and gracious, expressing her deep appreciation for being 'honored by the classical community.' She related how Stephen Sondheim had recently (and so accurately) said to her, 'You have a love affair with each song you sing. You use the kind of care with a song that you would with a new lover.' In his tribute article, Stephen Holden wrote of Cook's 'vital music career that continues to defy gravity as she enters her 80th year.' Kennedy Center CEO Michael Kaiser, who followed Cook in accepting his award for Impresario of the Year, said that he had 'joined the profession because of Barbara Cook.' As a child, he related, his parents - who were in attendance at the reception -- had taken him to see 'The Music Man' with Cook in the principal role of Marian the Librarian. He was captivated, he said. In his five years in the job, Kaiser has brought financial stability to the Center and, according to Tim Page in his article, 'transformed the programming, and Washington is a more diverse, fertile, and altogether more interesting place for the arts than it has ever been.' William Bolcom, whom Mark Swed in his tribute article identified as 'an eclectic's eclectic, a composer with something for everyone' and 'a storied master of many musics,' was named Composer of the Year, with Musical America Editor Sedgwick Clark pointing out that Bolcom was currently at work on his fourth opera and eighth symphony, both of which will be premiered in 2008, the year of his 70th birthday. Clark described Instrumentalist of the Year Pierre-Laurent Aimard as possessing 'ear-opening artistry.' The French pianist garnered attention initially as a specialist in new music, but has since gone on to broaden his repertoire as well as his international audience. This season sees him in residence at both Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic. All of the awardees' profiles are available on MusicalAmerica.com, at http://www.musicalamerica.com/features. Scott Morrison