“The contact between the audience and an orchestra is hard to describe. It’s a giving and taking of energy.”

Give it up for Maestro Jaap van Zweden. Holding two roles as Music Director of both the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, he has become a venerable classical music presence across three continents. In particular in Hong Kong, van Zweden is responsible for shaping what is a young orchestra culture.

On the latest JOYCE  Live Curiously podcast episode, van Zweden speaks to the Asian performing arts critic for the Financial Times of London Ken Smith, amidst another lockdown from his hometown of Amsterdam. From drawing similarities of his two home away from homes - New York and Hong Kong to pondering post pandemic performances, van Zweden and Smith are both in agreement. “There is nothing better than a live performance.” Amen to that.