Last year Jaap van Zweden got a call from the Berlin Philharmonic to fill in for an ailing conductor. He did and made his debut with the BPO to great acclaim. And just last week, van Zweden got a call from another prestigious orchestra. This time it was the Vienna Philharmonic, and another conductor (Gustavo Dudamel) had fallen ill. Van Zweden made his debut with the VPO April 6 conducting the Bruckner Symphony No. 8.
For several years now van Zweden has been a favorite guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony. In June this year he will lead three weeks of concerts devoted to the music of Britten, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
But before that he will preside over a Beethoven Festival with one of his own orchestras, the Dallas Symphony.
Jaap van Zweden is a very busy man these days and a large chunk of his time is devoted to his other orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Just last month he led the HPO on an extensive tour of China with Simone Lamsma as soloist in the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
Lamsma is one of van Zweden’s favorite soloists and they have often worked together. Our video this week features van Zweden and Lamsma in an excerpt from the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. The orchestra is the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. The concert was given in Utrecht on October 30, 2009.
For more on Lamsma visit her website at www.simonelamsma.com.
Paul E. Robinson
