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| ▲ This photo, provided by the SPO, shows the incoming music director Jaap van Zweden. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by the SPO, shows the poster for Director Zweden's opening concert. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) – Jaap van Zweden, 63, who is currently the music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, will be joining the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO). The incoming Director successfully held his first concert with the SPO amid cheers from the audience on Thursday.
At the first regular concert of the year held at the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul later in the day, the Dutch director led the opening concert of the SPO with Brahms’ Symphony No.1, “Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg - Prelude,” “Wagner: Tristan and Isolde - Prelude,” and “Death of Love.”
Director Zweden, who formerly conducted the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018 and the KBS Symphony Orchestra last year, is leading the SPO for the first time in his career. The first song he directed, after making an entrance to the stage with his iconic stride, was Brahms’ Symphony No.1 – a masterpiece that took Brahms over 21 years to complete and was then praised as “Beethoven’s 10th Symphony” by Hans von Bulow, the best conductor of the time.
The Director and SPO, who each conducted and played the song several times on separate occasions, presented a powerful performance with a delicate yet three-dimensional sense, and the audience welcomed the incoming music director with loud cheers and applause.
A smile then crept onto the Director’s face who appeared somewhat nervous when entering the stage, as if he was satisfied, and he also raised the Orchestra members up and led them to also receive applause from the audience.
In the second part of the concert which mainly consisted of Wagner’s pieces, the beautiful harmony between the Director and SPO undeniably stood out. Having been a conductor with knowledge of Wagner, such as by recording Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Director Zweden also excelled at conducting “Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg - Prelude,” Prelude to the Opera “Tristan and Isolde,” and “Death of Love” in the latter part of the concert.
“I thought Wagner's songs would be the best pieces to speak of the world of music that I have come from,” the Director said in the January issue of “SPO” published by the Orchestra. “This concert will be an opportunity to introduce what kind of music the Orchestra and I will try to make in the future.”
On the ensuing stage, Director Zweden and the SPO ended the concert with Johann Strauss II’s “The Bat” overture and also gave Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance” No.8 as the encore song. The audience gave an ovation to their powerful yet delicate performance.
The Director had his first regular concert with the SPO earlier than it was scheduled due to the former Finnish music director Osmo Venske’s surgery in his native Finland for a fall injury. Zweden, who came to Korea from his native Netherlands on Jan. 9, held the regular concert on Wednesday, as originally scheduled, after having intensive rehearsals with the Orchestra for two days.
Although he relatively lacked time to prepare for the repertoire and harmony with the Orchestra, the Director raised the expectations of the national fans of classic music by showing a performance that is close to perfection to befit his epithet “Orchestra Trainer.”
The Director and SPO will have the second regular concert on Friday also at the Lotte Concert Hall, directing and playing the same pieces.
Director Zweden, who is currently the music director of the New York Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, is scheduled to leave for Hong Kong on Jan. 17 after holding a press conference. His official inauguration will be in Jan. 2024; however, the Director plans to conduct the SPO ahead of time in July, November, and December this year as the incoming music director. He will be directing the pieces of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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