In 2011, Dallas Symphony Orchestra Musical Director Jaap van Zweden was awarded one of the classical music industry’s top honors, “Conductor of the Year” from Musical America. And while critics agree that the Dallas Symphony has perhaps never sounded better, the organization — and classical music at large — faces a long list of financial challenges. Van Zweden returns to the Meyerson for his first concert of the new year this weekend, and FrontRow’s Peter Simek sat down with the conductor to discuss his career, the symphony, and the state of classical music.

FrontRow: When you were beginning, you had once talked about how you learned about conducting by watching other conductors. I’m curious about what exactly you notice and about conductors that you set about emulating in style or approach and what was that—what can you notice just by watching as opposed to doing?

Jaap van Zweden: There are two moments in my career, the long career in the orchestra, where I never had the intention to do it [conducting] myself. But at the same time, I of course saw so many styles of conducting. And then there’s the moment in my career, the moment after Lenny [Bernstein] told me to start to conduct, that I looked differently at conductors. I was watching more technically what they were doing and what kind of preparation they took with them on the stage and how they approached orchestra members. And so I “digged in,” actually, very much, after I made the decision that this could maybe be something which I could do in the future. You can say that the first stage was that they would tell me how to do things and I was just learning and learning. I was nineteen, twenty years old. So I was learning, and I was a very eager student. I also was intrigued by what I just said: that if a conductor would come on stage, he would not just conduct a piece, but he would take a world with him on stage. And what kind of world was that? Was that a world of real preparation, or was it just, was it a world of going from place to place and just “take the money and run,” so to say? Or was it a preparation which was made 45 years ago and never changed? Or was it still alive? Did he get up and say to himself, “Every day when I get up I can still learn something, I can still adjust how I want to do this piece”? So I saw quite a different range of preparation of the conductors. And I was always very much inspired by the conductors who were very sure onstage on Monday what they wanted but then on Tuesday they would change it. And I would ask them, why would you change it?  They said, “Well, you know with Vienna Philharmonic, my first idea really worked. But with this orchestra, I think we should, we do something else.” So they would adjust also out of respect of the soul of the orchestra and what kind of tradition they were representing to him. He would adjust to that tradition. So I think these things were very important for me. That you always, whenever you go on stage, it doesn’t matter which orchestra, you always should respect the tradition of the orchestra. And at the same time, they ask from you something else than just their tradition. So it’s like, you’re here as a conductor, here’s the orchestra, and you meet in the middle. And that is a journey which I like the best.

FR: You once said that when you found the violin, it completed you in a way. When you made that transition from musician to conductor, you gave up the violin, something that for decades of your life was your most intimate companion. What is that like to step away? Do you still pick it up casually even just in your house?

JvZ: No, no. The interesting thing is that I’m so close to the violins; I never have the feeling that I lost that. It’s always with me, and my instinct tells me if something is not right how to fix it. And not only my instinct but, of course, also my knowledge. I know all about these instruments, but still, I’m so close to them every day that I don’t miss it. I don’t feel that it’s a black hole or something. Not at all.

FR: It’s funny because you think of the conductor as playing an orchestra like you would play an instrument, but I would think it’s more psychologically intense—you’re dealing with personalities, not just your own capability and your own interpretations. Does it feel like that? Does it feel like you’re playing the orchestra or is it something different than playing an instrument?

JvZ: Well, it is not a feeling of power; it’s a powerful feeling. It is wonderful to adjust everything in an orchestra, and then at the same time, you need to get into the person who is playing almost. Like, if somebody for instance—which can happen—has a big solo, and you know that it’s difficult, it has some risks with it, I don’t want to be here and they are there, and they do it. I try to get into this person and be as close with him or her as possible. So the work of collaboration and the work of doing things together is a very important work. I’m not conducting the orchestra—we are making music together. That’s the difference. That’s a different thing.

FR: It seems like there’s a tension between what you can do to prepare and how you’re continually re-understanding the music you’re going to perform and adjusting it to the orchestra, as you were saying. I’ve heard some musicians say that from the beginning you have very specific ideas about what you want to hear. When you prepare a piece, do you have in your head very specific ideas of what kind of tonal quality you want to hear, and how much of that is adjusted in rehearsal?

JvZ: No, I don’t push until the end. If I feel that I asked for a certain phrasing or a certain style, and I always try to make it that I ask something, that we work on it, and then I like to hear how they play it, that they completely agree. If they don’t, then we do something else. You know, sometimes I ask, “Do you agree with what I ask?” And they get scared and sometimes they are afraid to say no. So I say, “Tell me honestly, don’t you agree with this?” And if they say yes, I say, “Okay, but I don’t hear it yet that you agree.” Or if they are honest and they say, “Well, I disagree,” and then I say, “Let me ask you how would you do it then? And tell me why.” Because the word “why” is very important in an interpretation. And then of course we have always the Bible [points to a score and laughs], which says how we should play it at least – framework wise. So there is, especially when you are a little bit long with an orchestra, you need to create this space that we are doing it together. If you go somewhere for the first time, the orchestra likes you, tell them exactly how to do it and from there on you start. If this is a long relationship, then you can open up more and more and more and more.

FR: How much time do you have for each piece when you’re with the orchestra, in Dallas verses, for example, flying into Chicago where you have been a guest conductor?

JvZ: It’s almost the same. It’s between three, sometimes, three and a dress rehearsal. Three rehearsals plus dress. It depends a little bit on the program. It depends a little bit on what kind of program you’re doing, for instance we do now at the St. Matthew’s Passion by Bach, in a few months time. We have some more time, thank God. It’s so different than from the others. Also Beethoven’s Fidelio, the opera which we’re doing, we need a little bit more time. Then sometimes we only have three rehearsals because it’s a piece which has been played a lot of times But that is always difficult for me because I always like things different than what they are used to be. Not because I want to be different, but that comes from a certain tradition. So it is true that with me there is always a little bit of fight with timelines.

FR: It’s not a lot of time to learn the character of the orchestra. Is that something you get a sense of very quickly?

JvZ: After five minutes. If you’re tuning an orchestra you can feel immediately what kind of things are going on there. If you don’t tune in and you just conduct, then you will never get it properly.

FR: For someone who doesn’t do it and hasn’t had that experience of conducting, how can you describe what could you tell from your first experience with conducting the Dallas Symphony?

JvZ: The thing what always reminds me is that the combination of a great orchestra with a great hall was the thing what really attracted me. And although I think that the orchestra was in a different shape than now, I think, the combination was something – and also the ability to really transform a sound in one hour. That was something I thought, well, if an orchestra can do that so fast, if they are so eager to do that, and if they understand exactly what kind of sound we should create in this hall for this particular piece, then the possibilities are endless.

FR: So in those rehearsals, in an hour you were able to hear a substantial change? So, now it’s been how many years?

JvZ: Four years.

FR: How do you characterize that evolution in the character of the orchestra?

JvZ: I think the biggest change in the orchestra is that they start to be like a chameleon. They can adjust styles, composers, faster than when I came. They don’t play Mozart as a heavy Brahms piece anymore, and they don’t play Stravinsky also as a too heavy piece. So you know all these different styles, it’s more in their DNA than when I came. And you know that’s the future, in my opinion, that’s the future of a big orchestra. A big symphonic orchestra has to be a chameleon because we all know that, for instance, if you listen to Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann maybe, Schubert, and Bach, there was a huge change of styles the last 25 years made by people who went into libraries and told us that we were way too romantic with certain composers. We learned how to use the vibrato differently, and learned to phrase differently. And if you as a big symphonic orchestra these days, when you are neglecting this old scene, this old music scene, you will not be taken seriously anymore. Because these are very serious things, and they can defend everything, how they told us how to play. And I personally was brought up by pioneers, so for me, I would not say this is easy, because nothing is easy in life, but it is very much in my DNA.

FR: In addition to your work with the Dallas Symphony, you’re now the Musical Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. What about that position attracted you?

JvZ: I went there three, no, four years ago, and I was not so impressed by them at that time. And then I went back last year, and I was completely amazed by the quality of the orchestra. And it is like, they waited 500 years to take the economic power and at the same time, the cultural world is now very much looking into the East:China,Japan,Korea. And it’s very interesting how this orchestra itself changed, and what kind of quality and what kind of input they made in four years time. It’s just not to be believed. And I stopped my work with the Radio Philharmonic in theNetherlands and with the Royal Flemish Orchestra. And so I thought, well, it’s a very attractive orchestra with incredible possibilities. And the thing is that it is not 12 or 14 weeks a year—that for me, it was a little bit too much—and they were happy with six to eight weeks a year, a season, and so I said “okay,” then I’m your man.

FR: How would you describe the Dallas audience?

JvZ: Well they are very enthusiastic, I say it again. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years is that you should never underestimate your audience, wherever you go. And that means not for this audience, not forHong Kong, not for nowhere. And also we should not underestimate the young ones. That’s, for us as an organization, the next step. We really have to invest in the young people now. Now is that time, and that’s the thing I would like to focus on more and more in the coming seasons.

FR: How?

JvZ: Well you need to get them, and you need to tell them, “What do you want? What do you expect from us? What can we do that you’re involvement would be much more than it is now?” And I think, and I will tell them that I think, you should not divide your life in pop or classic. You should have it both. I would try to convince them that. Why do we fight for this? It’s not because we say classical music is the only music you should learn. No. I think it’s extremely important that Lady Gaga plays a big role in everybody’s life, and all these pop musicians, which I love myself tremendously. Now they have a choice. In the near future, we need to be careful that we don’t lose that choice. So we are fighting for the future that they still have a choice to go on a Friday night to Lady Gaga but on Saturday night they can go to the Dallas Symphony. And that is important because whatever music you listen to, somewhere in their head, somewhere they know that in a way—and it doesn’t matter what kind of music—but music is the food for the soul. And you know if you only eat a certain amount of food, let’s say only vegetables, it’s not good for you. If you only eat meat, it’s not good for you. So I think it’s very important that we attract them and that we can start to have a bigger relationship with the young ones in Dallas.

FR: Are all of the financial issues a distraction? It’s obviously something you think about in terms of audience, but is it distracting?

JvZ: No, it’s not distracting. It’s something which is worldwide a problem. We have to recognize it. I think that’s a very important moment for every orchestra to recognize that there are some problems, and then, at least you have to discuss it with people who are willing to take responsibility for the city. But these people need to know. So that’s very important, and it’s a very important moment for our board and they are taking responsibility right now. And we are not there yet, but we are on the road. And I hope that this will be solved in the near future because what is very important for a classical musical organization is that you want to plan ahead, like, three years, so you can really make a red line in your programming, in the invitations of certain soloists, and so you can really make a step plan, step-by-step. And if you don’t have the financial tools anymore, it is going to be hard not to invite great soloists and things like that. But let’s pray that everything will go the right direction.