HK Phil Music Director Jaap Van Zweden Awarded The Silver Bauhinia Star Of The HKSAR

The Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil), Jaap van Zweden, has been awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in recognition of his significant contribution to the development of the HK Phil and classical music in Hong Kong.

Maestro Jaap van Zweden has been the orchestra's Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season. In June 2020, the HK Phil announced that Jaap van Zweden had agreed to extend his Music Director contract through to the end of the 2023/24 season. This will bring Maestro van Zweden's extraordinary tenure as Music Director with the orchestra to an impressive 12 years.

Jaap van Zweden is one of today's leading international conductors. Under his dynamic leadership, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, earning international critical acclaim. The orchestra successfully completed a four-year journey through Wagner's Ring Cycle. The concert performances and live Naxos recordings were enthusiastically received by audiences, praised by critics at home and abroad, and garnered the Gramophone Orchestra of the Year Award 2019. The HK Phil is the first Asian orchestra to have received this prestigious international award.

Jaap van Zweden said, "I am deeply moved and proud to receive this prestigious award. I sincerely thank the Hong Kong Government for acknowledging the successes that the orchestra and I have achieved together in the last 8 years. I shall continue to serve the Hong Kong community, to lead this wonderful orchestra of Hong Kong, and to showcase our finest music-making to the world."

On behalf of the HK Phil, Y. S. Liu, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society, has sent sincere congratulations to Maestro Jaap van Zweden for his award. He added that it is our privilege to work with Maestro van Zweden. Being a cultural ambassador for Hong Kong, the HK Phil and Maestro van Zweden will continue to scale new heights in artistic excellence for our home city Hong Kong, as well as the orchestra in the years ahead.

At the moment, Maestro van Zweden is back to Hong Kong undergoing quarantine, and he will be back to the stage with his orchestra, the HK Phil, performing for you five Beethoven symphonies on three nights over two weeks. Stay tuned for more details to be announced on Friday!

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