Jaap van Zweden News

Acclaimed as an artist who possesses "compelling virtuosity and sensitivity" (Los Angeles Times), pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences around the globe with a full schedule of concerto and recital performances. Just 27 years old, Yang first came to international attention in 2005, when she became the Silver Medalist of the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. As the youngest contestant that year, she swept two additional awards as an all-around winner. More recently, she was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2010, one of the most prestigious prizes in classical music. This performance marks Yang's Seattle debut.

Tonight, November 21 through the 24th, 2013, 19-year-old pianist/composer Conrad Tao will premiere his new composition The World Is Very Different Now, performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden. The piece is part of a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963, and The World Is Very Different Now was commissioned especially for the event by the DSO with support by the National Endowment for the Arts and TACA.

Guest conductor Charles Dutoit leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, the English composer's impassioned denunciation of war on Thursday, November 14; Friday, November 15; and Saturday, November 16, all at 8 p.m.

Good things come in fours as Maestro Thierry Fischer returns to the Abravanel Hall stage in November with Guest Violinist Nicola Benedetti and the Utah Symphony presenting Vivaldi's legendary tour de force The Four Seasons.

Distinguished international conductor and acclaimed Mozart interpreter Hans Graf, recently named Music Director Laureate of the Houston Symphony after serving as its music director for 12 years, makes his Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra debut conducting the highly anticipated Los Angeles debut of Italian piano sensation Alessio Bax, whose artistry "quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity" (Gramophone), in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 on Saturday, November 16, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and Sunday, November 17, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Also featured is Beethoven's vivid Symphony No. 6 in F major, "Pastoral," considered among Beethoven's most exquisitely beautiful and popular works. The program begins with Henri Dutilleux' Mystere de l'instant for strings, cimbalom (a hammered dulcimer) and percussion, which premiered in 1989.

New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Joshua Weilerstein will make his Philharmonic subscription debut conducting Osvaldo Golijov's Last Round; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Arabella Steinbacher, also in her Philharmonic debut; and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8, tonight, October 12, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m.

The New York Philharmonic in collaboration with CAMI Music will celebrate the Chinese New Year for the third consecutive year, welcoming the Year of the Horse with a concert featuring major works of both the Chinese and Western canon on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. The event celebrates the cultural heritage of China and America and honors the Chinese- American community. Long Yu — artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic, music director of the Shanghai and Guanzhou Symphony Orchestras, and artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival — will return to the Philharmonic to conduct the concert.

On November 21-24, 2013, 19-year-old pianist/composer Conrad Tao will premiere his new composition The World Is Very Different Now, performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden. The piece is part of a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963, and The World Is Very Different Now was commissioned especially for the event by the DSO with support by the National Endowment for the Arts and TACA.

On Thursday, November 7, at 8:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall, critically acclaimed 25-year-old cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan performs in recital with pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera. Mr. Hakhnazaryan, who won the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011, and Ms. Cassidy-Polera perform Ligeti's technically demanding Cello Sonata, as well as Humoresque, Op. 5, composed by the cellist's late mentor Mstislav Rostropovich, and Mikhail Bronner's 1995 work The Jew: Life and Death, which reflects upon the tragedy of Jewish history. Also on the program are such traditional works as Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19, and Schumann's Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70.

New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Joshua Weilerstein will make his Philharmonic subscription debut conducting Osvaldo Golijov's Last Round; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Arabella Steinbacher, also in her Philharmonic debut; and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8, Saturday, October 12, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Single tickets for the 2013-14 season at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis go on sale August 9, and additional Just Added performances will be part of the mix: Diana Krall, Pink Martini Holiday Concert, Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show and a third performance by the San Francisco Symphony.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced a change for this week's subscription concerts, April 4-6, 2013. Conductor Jaap van Zweden has regrettably withdrawn from conducting the performances due to family reasons. This Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5, Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin will conduct. On Saturday, April 6, Associate Conductor Cristian M?celaru will lead the ensemble in his Philadelphia Orchestra subscription debut. As a result, the repertoire has been changed slightly. Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Strauss's Suite from Der Rosenkavalier will remain on the program, while Schoenberg's Transfigured Night will be replaced by Strauss's tone poem Death and Transfiguration.

The Cleveland Orchestra performs the Cleveland premiere of Stewart Copeland's Gamelan D'Drum in the first KeyBank Fridays@7 concert of the 2012-13 season at Severance Hall. Joining the Orchestra for this work will be the Dallas-based world percussion ensemble D'Drum, in their Cleveland Orchestra debut. Gamelan D'Drum is scored for symphony orchestra and more than 70 world percussion instruments.

The Cleveland Orchestra performs the Cleveland premiere of Stewart Copeland's Gamelan D'Drum in the first KeyBank Fridays@7 concert of the 2012-13 season at Severance Hall. Joining the Orchestra for this work will be the Dallas-based world percussion ensemble D'Drum, in their Cleveland Orchestra debut. Gamelan D'Drum is scored for symphony orchestra and more than 70 world percussion instruments.

Sixth generation diamantaire Lita Asscher and art specialist Anna-Sophia van Zweden have come together, combining their biggest loves, to create a unique, limited edition collection exclusively for MTV RE:DEFINE. The one-of-a-kind collection will be auctioned at The MTV Staying Alive Foundation's Aids Benefit Art Exhibition and Auction, RE:DEFINE, presented by the Goss-Michael Foundation in Dallas, on September 22nd from 7pm -12am.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the crown jewel of Ravinia's classical programming, kicks off its annual summer residency at the festival with a concert of American favorites at 5 p.m. on July 4.

The League of American Orchestras' 67th National Conference, today, June 5 through June 8, 2012 in Dallas, TX, will offer participants opportunities for orchestras, along with performances by the Dallas and Fort Worth symphony orchestras. Approximately 1,000 professionals and volunteers from across the orchestra field will attend the 2012 National Conference, which is co-presented with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and will open with an introduction on Wednesday, June 6 by Jesse Rosen, League president and CEO, and Blaine Nelson, Chairman of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Board of Governors.

The League of American Orchestras' 67th National Conference, June 5 - 8, 2012 in Dallas, TX, will offer participants opportunities for orchestras, along with performances by the Dallas and Fort Worth symphony orchestras.

The Dallas Opera presents the finale of its 2011-2012 "Tragic Obsessions" Season: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's comic-drama, THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflote), opening Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

The Dallas Opera, in partnership with Cowboys Stadium, has entered world record territory: more than 30,500 tickets to the Dallas Opera's one-night-only April 28th Dallas Opera Cowboys Stadium Simulcast, presented by The Dallas Foundation, have been requested by opera lovers from throughout Texas and 26 additional states. Ticket requests have also come in from the District of Columbia and Canada since the joint announcement was made on January 26th at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.