Jaap van Zweden decided during the pandemic that he wanted to jettison the jet-setting life of a transatlantic conductor, so the less-flying Dutchman cut short his New York Philharmonic tenure, the orchestra’s shortest for a music director since Pierre Boulez from 1971-77.
“I strongly believe in heart-to-heart contact, eye-to-eye contact, and not through a camera or something,” he said. “I cannot change myself. I was pushed into the century of Skyping and electronics. It’s not me.”
