Jaap van Zweden’s artistic mastery has served him and the orchestras he has guided in good stead, and included among these are his recent past music directorships: the New York Philharmonic, where he championed and then inaugurated the transformation of New York’s David Geffen Hall in 2022; the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, which he led to international prominence; and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which earned national acclaim under his direction. His current posts include becoming music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024 and artist-in-residence of the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan in 2025. In the fall of 2026, he adds the music directorship of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Widely recognized on three continents, Jaap van Zweden appears as guest with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics, London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Among Jaap van Zweden’s over fifty recordings is the Hong Kong Philharmonic in first-ever performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle in Hong Kong, released on the Naxos label. To this is added the New York Philharmonic’s world premiere of David Lang’s prisoner of the state (2020) and Julia Wolfe’s Grammy Award–nominated Fire in my mouth (2019), both released on the Decca Gold label. Plus, his acclaimed performances of Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal—the last of which earned him the prestigious Edison Award for Best Opera Recording in 2012—are available on CD and DVD.
Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden, at nineteen, while a student at the Juilliard School, was appointed the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and began his conducting career in 1996. In 2023 he received the Concertgebouw Prize for exceptional contributions to the organization’s artistic profile. He remains conductor emeritus of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and honorary chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, where he was chief conductor (2005/13); he also served as chief conductor of the Royal Flanders Orchestra (2008/11) and music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (2008/18) and the New York Philharmonic (2018/24). Under his leadership, the Hong Kong Philharmonic (2012/24) was named Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2019. Van Zweden was named Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year and was the subject of a CBS 60 Minutes profile in 2018.
In 1997 Jaap van Zweden and his wife, Aaltje, established the Papageno Foundation to support families of children with autism. Today, the foundation has grown into a multifaceted organization that focuses on the development of autistic children and young adults. In addition to in-home music therapy through a national network of qualified music therapists in the Netherlands, the foundation has opened several Papageno houses, where young adults with autism can live, work, and participate in the community.
February 2026
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
