Van Zweden’s premiere-heavy debut season as New York Philharmonic music director
United States’ leading orchestra will highlight ‘music of conscience’ and celebrate immigrants in its first season under HK Phil maestro, which also features US$5, one-hour concerts intended to draw new audiences
The New York Philharmonic will celebrate immigrants and highlight “music of conscience” in a strikingly modern season – its first under incoming music director Jaap van Zweden – that features five world premieres.
Some observers had presumed van Zweden, a Dutch violinist turned conductor who is also music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, to be most interested in leading refined performances of the classical canon.
But the leading US orchestra’s 2018-19 season will take on themes of activism and immigrants’ contributions to New York – an unspoken statement in the age of President Donald Trump and his nativist “America First” platform.
Among the world premieres will be “prisoner of the state” by leading US composer David Lang, a contemporary reinterpretation of Beethoven’s sole opera, Fidelio, about a disguised guard who rescues her husband from a political prison.
Van Zweden said he considered the opera a “wonderful statement from us” that will close the season.