Van Zweden takes Radio France’s Philharmonic on its first tour of his tenure

Jaap van Zweden will lead the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France through five European cities from 6 to 12 November 2026, on his first tour as its music director. His tenure began in September, making the journey an early public test of the new partnership beyond Paris.

The itinerary moves from Basel to Cologne and Essen, then to Amsterdam and Vienna. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is programmed at every stop, providing a consistent large-scale work against which audiences can hear the orchestra’s response to its new chief.

Renaud and Gautier Capuçon join the tour for Brahms’s Double Concerto. Amsterdam is the exception: Gautier Capuçon performs Dvořák’s Cello Concerto without his violinist brother. The change gives the Concertgebouw programme a separate identity within an otherwise closely connected run.

The tour follows Van Zweden’s inaugural concert on 11 September, which also featured Renaud Capuçon. That opening programme included music by Joel Thompson, Ravel and Shostakovich, setting out a broader range than the touring repertoire alone might suggest.

Paris performances frame the trip. A 4 November concert with Gautier Capuçon supports UNICEF and is scheduled for live radio transmission. The brothers reunite on 14 November in a programme also planned for online video coverage.

Choosing one symphony for five different halls has an artistic logic. It allows an interpretation to accumulate experience while exposing it to changing acoustics and audiences. Berlioz’s volatile shifts of character should make that process especially apparent.

For British listeners following the appointment, the broadcasts offer access to a relationship still in formation. The immediate interest is how Van Zweden’s approach develops with this orchestra over repeated performances, rather than whether a single inaugural evening can define the partnership.