Jaap van Zweden on a reset for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, a rethink of his globetrotting lifestyle, and saving his father’s life

That Jaap van Zweden is back conducting the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra again is a sign that life has fully returned to the city’s classical music scene

Not being able to conduct for 18 months because of the coronavirus pandemic gave the 60-year-old time with his family, and a chance to reconsider how he works

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Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, was fortunate to be at home when his father, 94, had a heart attack - he administered CPR, he reveals. He talks about a reset for the HK Phil and rethinking his globetrotting. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 10:34am, 16 Sep 2021Updated: 10:54am, 16 Sep 2021

At the end of a discussion about plague, quarantine and the problems of constricted life, Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, is asked a casual question about his father, now aged 94 and living in the Netherlands.

“Still playing piano,” replies the maestro, 60. “He had a very rough year, actually, because he had a heart attack. I had to reanimate him myself.”

What? He waves his fingers in helpful demonstration, massaging the silent air of a Peninsula suite. (He stays in the hotel in Kowloon when he’s in Hong Kong – though not, as he has already pointed out, in such a vast, chandeliered room.)

“With my hands,” he adds. “We did not have a defibrillator at his house … it was very strange, actually. I was not scared. I was not in panic at all. I just do it because, you know, in the Netherlands, you have to learn it. And after, I would say, one minute and a half, he came back.” He repeats the phrase, a note of understandable wonder in his tone: “He came back.”

That Jaap is back has been announced all over the city. Like Elvis, he’s a single-word phenomenon on the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s excited MTR posters. That his father returned is, presumably, worth more exclamation marks to his family and to a Dutch audience; van Zweden senior, who’s a pianist, will be giving his first postmortem concert in a couple of months.

To many Hongkongers, however, having Jaap’s hands at work is a sign that life has fully returned to the classical music scene.

It’s been a while. “A year and seven, eight, months,” he says. His first rehearsal with the orchestra was a few days before the season’s opening night on September 3. “No, they were not nervous because they are all prepared,” he replies to a query.