Anton Kok flew all the way from Amsterdam to watch a colleague and friend turn yet another page in a remarkable career.

What Dallas will soon begin to revel in, Mr. Kok said Wednesday night at the annual gala of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, is that its newly crowned conductor, Jaap van Zweden, brings a rock 'n' roll sensibility to classical music.

"And believe me, you will love it," said Mr. Kok, an executive with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, who has worked with Mr. van Zweden for years. "He leaves the audience enthralled. They're immediately taken by his energy and movement." The gala marked the official welcome of Mr. van Zweden to the DSO. (His name is pronounced "Yahp vahn ZWEH-dn," as in "redden.") He thrilled about 700 patrons by opening the show with a Stradivarius violin solo of a Beethoven Romance before collaborating with concertmaster Emanuel Borok on Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. Then he took up the baton to lead the orchestra in Mahler's weighty Symphony No. 5.

For the occasion, patrons ponied up cocktail reception and dinner tickets ranging from $1,000 to $1,500, and a few even reserved tables tabbed from $10,000 to $25,000.

Designers had festooned the Meyerson Symphony Center's expansive limestone-and-glasslobby with decorations befitting Mahler's Vienna, circa 1900. Enormous fake peacocks rose to the ceiling from the center of tables whose centerpieces were lush bouquets of fresh flowers.

There was no shortage of dignitaries, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the state's first lady, Anita Perry, heading the list. Holly Reed, an official with AT&T, the gala's sponsor, introduced Mr. Perry to the crowd as "the maestro of Texas."

Other guests included Gert-Jan Kramer, a prominent businessman in the Netherlands, who donated the Stradivarius that Mr. van Zweden played.

The classical music media also werewell-represented. Covering the event were the Financial Times, Musical America and the Dutch daily De Telegraaf. Next week's concerts will bring The New York Times and the BBC, according to symphony officials.

Mark Stoltz, 57, a district judge in Dallas who wore a bow tie in the shape of the Texas flag, said he welcomed Mr. van Zweden as someone who can take the orchestra to a new level.

Mr. Stoltz heard the orchestra play Beethoven last year with Mr. van Zweden conducting, "and he was fabulous. You can tell they like playing for him. He brings incredible energy. He's frenetic. With him, you hear stuff you never heard before."

Like Mr. Kok, Willem Kool came from Amsterdam to hear and see his friend. "He's well known in Holland and all over Europe," said Mr. Kool. "I see him as one of the most amazing conductors in the world. He has conducted the world's best orchestras and in my opinion will push the Dallas Symphony to become one of the world's best. Who knows how far he can take them?"

So what kind of a guy is he? As a person, said Mr. Kool, his friend is relentlessly disciplined. "He neither drinks nor smokes," said Mr. Kool, and is known to work on music well before the sun rises.

"He's a workaholic, but an extremely nice man," said Mr. Kool. "I envy you. What a wonderfully exciting era you have starting here in Dallas."