- Dutch conductor.
- He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1996 (1995 season) for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his conducting of The Royal Opera, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerng at the Royal Opera House.
- He was awarded the 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera of 2001 for his constributions to the Royal Opera's Jenufa and The Queen of Spades and the musical directorship of a season at the Royal Opera House.
- He was awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 Queen's Honours List and awarded the Companion of Honour in the 2002 Queen's Honours List for his services to music.
- He began playing violin at age 9, and went on to study at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He won a seat as a second violinist in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently studied conducting, and became conductor of the orchestra.
- He grew up during Nazi occupation. His father was imprisoned for three months in a concentration camp, along with about 100 others, as retaliation after a Nazi bookshop was bombed.
- He was the son of Anna Clara (Verschaffelt), who worked for Alliance française, and Willem Haitink, a civil servant and director of the Amsterdam electricity board.
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