Concerts commemorating the centenary of the death of Antonin Dvorak - the popular composer of the New World Symphony and the Slavonic Dances - are being held all around the world this year. The wistful, romantic melody from the New World's second movement is one of the best known classical pieces. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will stage four Dvorak-related performances this season. The first, this weekend, has a crowd-pleasing line-up that includes the New World (which Dvorak dedicated to the Americas), his Cello Concerto in B Minor (featuring young American Mark Kosower), and the Carnival Overture, a popular concert opener. American Gerard Schwarz, the music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony orchestras, will conduct. Schwarz directed New York's Mostly Mozart Festival for two decades. He has conducted all of Mozart's operas, revived awareness of American composers such as Howard Hanson, and is no less experienced with British composers of the past century. His main interest, however, lies in the core repertoire of the 19th century - which includes Dvorak. Schwarz calls himself a 'great Dvorak fan', and says he'd like to hear Dvorak's many lesser-known works played more often - such as the tone poem The Golden Spinning Wheel, the Czech Suite and various choral works. Some critics dismiss the music of Dvorak, the son of a village butcher, as simple-minded. And compared with the tragic grandeur, internal struggle, sublime spirituality and exalted vision of the likes of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, it can seem merely tuneful and effortlessly buoyant. But Schwarz does not agree. 'Dvorak's fame was built initially on the Slavonic Dances, which was light music, and that affects his image,' he says. 'He might have been a little simple as a human being; but his music possesses the depth of all the great composers.' Schwarz was born in 1947 in New Jersey to Viennese parents. He played the piano as a child, but fell in love with the trumpet after hearing the Triumphal March from the opera Aida at the age of seven. He went to elite institutions such as the Juilliard School, and became a professional trumpeter. Schwarz was a member of the American Brass Quintet from 1965 to 1973, and toured the US, Europe and Asia (he played in Hong Kong in 1968). In 1973, he was accepted without audition to succeed his teacher, William Vacchiano, as co-principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra - a dream job. But four years later, and after much soul-searching, Schwarz resigned from the New York Philharmonic to become a full-time conductor. He wanted to be involved with broader aspects of music. He studied under three famous conductors: Pierre Boulez ('He has a phenomenal ear for clarity, balance, intonation, rhythm'), Leonard Bernstein ('He showed great personal commitment to the work he was conducting and to the individuals playing for him. He was inspirational to us') and Erich Leinsdorf ('He had a brilliant intellect towards the core repertoire'). Schwarz is now in his 18th season leading the Seattle Symphony, which attracted some 330,000 last season. Not surprisingly, he has little truck with suggestions that classical music is losing its appeal. The problem lies not with the music, but with the performers, publicists and teachers, he says. 'Classical music can flourish anywhere in the world if the right atmosphere is created.' The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra's Dvorak In The New World, Jan 29-30, 8pm, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, Tsim Sha Tsui. Tickets $240, $140, $100 and $60, Urbtix. Inquiries, tel: 2312 6103 or visit www.hkpo.com