Jaap van Zweden sets bar high for Hong Kong Philharmonic
Jaap van Zweden, ahead of his first concert, suggests that HK's flagship ensemble might one day become 'the Berlin Philharmonic of Asia'
When his appointment as the new music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra was formally announced this year, Jaap van Zweden addressed reporters via a televised link from Amsterdam with a warm smile - an attribute largely absent from his publicity shots - and a twinkle in the eye, on suggesting that the city's flagship ensemble might one day become "the Berlin Philharmonic of Asia".
That's setting the bar high. But van Zweden is riding high himself right now.
The 51-year-old Dutchman directs his first concert in the new post on Friday, having come a long way since his appointment as the youngest ever concertmaster of the Netherlands' Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, aged 19. For the next 16 years he was to watch the world's finest conductors - and, inevitably, some not so fine - plying their craft before him; the artistic spectrum no doubt ranged from inspirational musicians to those motivated more by the fee.
Since he has stepped up to the podium as chief conductor of several European orchestras since 1996, and been music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008, where do critics currently rate van Zweden within that spectrum?
There are plenty of voices united in opinion.
"I would go to hear van Zweden conduct anything, anywhere," said Andrew Patner at the Chicago Sun Times.