Jaap van Zweden is music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and previously held the same post with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In September 2026 he will assume the post of music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Van Zweden studied violin with Davina van Wely. At sixteen, having won the Dutch National Violin Competition, he set off to New York to study at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1979 he was appointed concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Van Zweden traded in his bow for a conductor’s baton in 1997, going on to hold the position of chief conductor of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Antwerp, as well as that of chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. His international career took off when he was appointed music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2008, a position he held until 2018. Van Zweden conducted leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic.
With the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra he released a recording of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle. His many critically acclaimed recordings further include the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms, and Wagner’s Parsifal, which was awarded an Edison in 2012. That same year, he was hailed as Conductor of the Year by Musical America.
Since his first appearance as a guest conductor with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1998, Van Zweden has returned regularly. In October 2023 he received the Concertgebouw Award.