Double Duty

He’s just launched the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s landmark 45th season and is now taking on the New York Phil for five years. Music director Jaap van Zweden talks to Cherry Lai about his exciting balancing act

- Cherry Lai

There is an unmistakable intensity about Jaap van Zweden. The 57-year-old Amsterdam-born musician, who has been lauded for raising the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to new heights since he became its music director in 2012, conducts with animated, purposeful motion and a fierce presence that demands the attention of every member of the audience and orchestra alike.

The maestro’s passion for his craft is even more apparent when we meet in the lobby lounge of The Peninsula, where he’s sitting with piercing gaze and hands clasped. We’re just across the road from the Cultural Centre, the location of the more than 150 concerts the orchestra performs during its annual 44-week season, chatting about his year ahead. And what a year it will be. Following in the footsteps of such renowned masters as Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini and his very own mentor, Leonard Bernstein, Van Zweden this month takes up his five-year appointment as music director of the prestigious New York Philharmonic, its 26th—while continuing his commitment to the Hong Kong orchestra, which is celebrating its 45th season with one of its most impressive programmes.