“Opening night was a week away, and Jaap van Zweden had just finished his first day as music director of the New York Philharmonic,” writes Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (8/19) New York Times. “Introducing Mr. van Zweden, 57, to New Yorkers is the Philharmonic’s first order of business. The orchestra has mounted a publicity campaign with posters, TV spots and web ads; programmed premieres to add spice to his opening weeks; and planned performances for city workers and others in April, at which all tickets will cost $5. But rolling out a new maestro is not easy in 2018. The city may be a classical music capital, but the art form rarely breaks through to the broader culture, or even the local news…. The orchestra spent a week preparing to debut its new maestro on Thursday [9/20].” In his dressing room, “Photographs of some of the titans who preceded him—Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein—lined the walls.… A glossy photograph of Mr. van Zweden in a black cowboy hat was a souvenir from his last post, as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra…. Over his desk hung a historical photograph of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam; when Mr. van Zweden was just 19, that ensemble made him its concertmaster.”
Posted September 20, 2018
In photo: A fan takes a selfie with Jaap van Zweden, music director of the New York Philharmonic. In the background, one of the ads the Philharmonic placed on bus stops to introduce him to the city. Photo by Nina Westervelt for The New York Times
