Jaap van Zweden

Jaap van Zweden
Jaap van Zweden, Amsterdam 1981
Born	December 12, 1960 Amsterdam, North Holland
Occupation	Conductor, Violinist
Website	www.jaapvanzweden.com

Jaap van Zweden (Dutch: [ja:p fan zwe:dən]; English: [jap van zwɛɪdən]) (born December 12, 1960) is a Dutch conductor and violinist.

Van Zweden was born in Amsterdam, North Holland. His father, a pianist, encouraged him to begin violin studies at age five, and he studied music in Amsterdam. At age 15, he won a violin competition; this allowed him to attend the Juilliard School in the United States, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay.

In 1979, at age 18, Van Zweden became the concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra—the youngest violinist ever to assume that position, which he held until 1995.

Van Zweden began to work as a conductor after Leonard Bernstein invited him to lead an orchestra rehearsal in Berlin. He has stated that he learned much about conducting from observing the various conductors who led concerts of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. He conducted smaller ensembles initially, and became a full-time conductor in 1997. His first Dutch conducting post was as chief conductor with the Orkest van het Oosten (Orchestra of the East, or the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra) in Enschede, the Netherlands. He served in this post from 1996 through 2000. Van Zweden was chief conductor of the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague from 2000 until 2005, and he recorded the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven with them. In 2005 he became chief conductor and artistic leader of the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (RFO; Netherlands Radio Philharmonic) in Hilversum. In February 2007 he extended his RFO contract through 2013. In August 2010, the orchestra announced that Van Zweden would step down from the RFO chief conductorship in 2012 and take the position of honorary guest conductor. Van Zweden served as chief conductor of deFilharmonie (Royal Flemish Philharmonic) in Antwerp from 2008 to 2012.