Jaap van Zweden (biography)

(Amsterdam, 1960)

Hans van der Woerd

Hans van der Woerd

Jaap van Zweden has risen rapidly in the past decade to become one of today’s most sought-after conductors. He has been music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008 and will become Conductor Laureate in 2018. He has also been music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. Beginning in 2018-19, Jaap van Zweden will be Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He will serve as Music Director Designate in their 2017–18 season.

Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden was appointed at 19 as the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and began his conducting career 20 years later in 1995. He remains honorary chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor emeritus of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra. In November 2011, Jaap van Zweden was named Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year.

Jaap van Zweden has appeared as guest conductor with many leading orchestras across the globe, and he has made numerous acclaimed recordings. With the Dallas Symphony he launched the inaugural Soluna International Music & Arts Festival, and with the Hong Kong Philharmonic he has begun a four-year project to conduct the first-ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is being recorded for release on Naxos Records.

www.jaapvanzweden.com