Professors

1st photo: Bert Hulselmans, 2nd photo: Theresa Pewal

Jaap van Zweden is currently Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Designate of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. From 2018 to 2024 he served as the 26th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, having previously led the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for twelve years (2012–2024).
He has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony.
In the 2024/25 season, van Zweden begins his new work with performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and a concert performance of Der fliegende Holländer with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, where he serves as Honorary Conductor.
Further highlights include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as part of the Bruckner anniversary, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Chicago Symphony, and engagements in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.His tenure in New York was marked by the reopening of David Geffen Hall and numerous world premières, including works commissioned for Project 19, which honoured nineteen female composers. With the Hong Kong Philharmonic he recorded Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen for Naxos, and with the New York Philharmonic works such as David Lang’s prisoner of the state for Decca Gold.
Born in Amsterdam, van Zweden became at the age of nineteen the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has devoted himself fully to conducting since 1996. He is Honorary Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, under his leadership, the Hong Kong Philharmonic was named “Orchestra of the Year” by Gramophone magazine.
Jaap van Zweden has recorded numerous renowned recordings, including world premieres by David Lang and Julia Wolfe. Since his debut in Gstaad (2017), he produced several live recordings with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, including Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony and Brahms' 4th Symphony. 
Together with his wife Aaltje, he founded the Papageno Foundation in 1997, supporting families with autistic children and promoting music therapy programmes, research initiatives and inclusive housing projects in the Netherlands.

Jaap van Zweden - Biography

Johannes Schlaefli is currently Artistic Director of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Alumni Symphony Orchestra Zurich, and serves as Principal Guest Professor of Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt.
Widely regarded as one of the most sought-after conducting pedagogues internationally, Schlaefli teaches around the world and has been invited by leading institutions including the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Juilliard School in New York, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the conservatoires of Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Manchester, Copenhagen and Paris. He is also Lead Professor of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival Conducting Academy and works closely with the German Conductors Forum and the Norwegian Dirigentloftet in Oslo.
Johannes Schlaefli was a co-founder of the Kammerorchester Basel in 1984. He served as Chief Conductor of the Bern Chamber Orchestra from 1995 to 2013, and subsequently as Chief Conductor of the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra from 2013 to 2019. From 2018 to 2024 he held the position of Chief Conductor of the Collegium Musicum Basel Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor he has appeared with numerous orchestras in Switzerland and abroad.

Johannes Schlaefli - Biography