Jaap van Zweden Begins Tenure as Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

On 1 September 2026, Jaap van Zweden will officially take up his position as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Following a season as Music Director Designate, during which he joined the orchestra on an Asian tour and conducted Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier in July, the Dutch conductor now begins a new chapter at the helm of the Paris-based orchestra.

Jaap van Zweden conducts his first concert as Music Director on 11 September 2026 at the Auditorium de Radio France, opening the season together with violinist Renaud Capuçon. The programme begins with the French premiere of Joel Thompson's To See the Sky, followed by Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin in an orchestration by Yan Maresz. Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 concludes the concert, which will be broadcast live on France Musique.

Just two weeks later, on 25 September 2026, Jaap van Zweden and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France appear at the Philharmonie de Paris for a major Wagner evening, returning to repertoire with which the conductor has been closely associated for many years. At the heart of the programme is the complete second act of Tristan und Isolde, featuring an internationally renowned cast: Stuart Skelton as Tristan, Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde, Kwangchul Youn as King Marke, Iain Paterson as Kurwenal and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Brangäne.

Another highlight of Jaap van Zweden's first season as Music Director is a European tour with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 6 to 12 November 2026, taking them to some of Europe's leading concert halls: the Stadtcasino Basel, Kölner Philharmonie, Philharmonie Essen, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Konzerthaus Wien.

In Basel, Cologne, Essen and Vienna, Renaud Capuçon and Gautier Capuçon, two of France's most internationally renowned soloists, appear together in Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto. In Amsterdam, Gautier Capuçon is the soloist in Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto.

For Jaap van Zweden, the return to the Concertgebouw is also a homecoming to a venue closely connected to his own musical career. At just 19, he was appointed concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, becoming the youngest musician ever to hold the position in the orchestra's history.

Tour Dates 

11 September 2026 - Paris, Maison de la Radio et de la Musique - Opening concert
Renaud Capuçon, Violin | Jaap van Zweden, Conductor

Programme

Joel Thompson: To See the Sky (french premiere)
Maurice Ravel: Violin sonata (orchestrated by Yan Maresz)
Dimitri Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 5

25 September 2026 - Paris,  Philharmonie de Paris
Jaap van Zweden, Conductor

Programme

Richard Wagner: Meistersinger - Prelude
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Act II

6 November 2026 – Basel, Stadtcasino

7 November 2026 – Cologne,  Philharmonie

8 November 2026 – Essen, Philharmonie Essen

12 November 2026 – Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus
Renaud Capuçon, Violin | Gautier Capuçon, Cello | Jaap van Zweden, Conductor

Programme

Johannes Brahms: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra A minor Op. 102
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op. 14 

10 November 2026 – Amsterdam, Concertgebouw
Gautier Capuçon, Cello | Jaap van Zweden, Conductor

Programme

Antonín Dvořák: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra B minor Op. 104
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op. 14 

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