After beginning his professional career at an incredibly young age, Jaap van Zweden has had an illustrious career as a violinist, but more notably, as a conductor. He has led ensembles of varying sizes in repertoire covering orchestral and opera works from the Baroque to the 21st century. Along with his wife, Aaltje, he established a foundation to provide music therapy to children with autism. In 2022, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra announced that van Zweden will be its next music director, beginning with the 2024 season.

Van Zweden was born on December 12, 1960, in Amsterdam. With his pianist father's encouragement, he took up the violin at age five. After winning the National Oskar Back Violin Competition at age 15, van Zweden then enrolled at Juilliard, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay. In 1979, at age 18, van Zweden was appointed as a co-concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, becoming the youngest person to hold this position. He remained in this post until 1995. Van Zweden won an Edison Award in 1984 for a recording of Brahms' violin sonatas, with Ronald Brautigam on piano.

A critical moment in van Zweden's career came in 1990 while in Berlin with the Concertgebouw. During rehearsal, Leonard Bernstein asked van Zweden to conduct the first movement of Mahler's first symphony while Bernstein listened from the hall. In the following years, his focus shifted towards conducting. During this period, he spent time leading the Brabants Orchestra and recorded concertos from Locatelli's L'Arte del Violino with the Combattimento Consort. Following his departure from the Concertgebouw, he conducted the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and performed with the Berlin Symphony.

In 1996, van Zweden was named the chief conductor of the Orkest van het Oosten, serving until 2000. That same year he made his U.S. debut guest conducting the St. Louis Symphony. He served as the chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest of The Hague from 2000 to 2005. During the 2002-2003 season, he made his opera conducting debut, leading the Nationale Reisopera in Beethoven's Fidelio, and recorded Beethoven's nine symphonies with the Residentie Orkest. He was the chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Chamber Philharmonic orchestras from 2005 to 2012. Van Zweden was named the music director of the Dallas Symphony in 2008, following a successful guest conductor performance in 2006. He also served as the chief conductor of the Filharmonie van Vlaanderen from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, van Zweden was named the music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, leading the orchestra in the Hong Kong premiere of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 2018, van Zweden took over as music director of the New York Philharmonic, and the Dallas Symphony named him conductor laureate. The following year, the Hong Kong Philharmonic earned the Orchestra of the Year Award from Gramophone.

Van Zweden has recorded for a variety of labels and has recently released several albums on Decca Gold with the New York Philharmonic. Among these is the premiere of Julia Wolfe's Fire in My Mouth, which received Grammy nominations for Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Best Engineered Album, Classical. Likewise, in 2020, van Zweden led the Philharmonic in the premiere recording of David Lang's prisoner of the state. In 2022, van Zweden was announced as the next music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra beginning in 2024, at which time he will step down from his post with the New York Philharmonic.

In 1997, Jaap and Aaltje van Zweden established the Papageno Foundation, which offers music therapy to aid in the development of children and young adults with autism. It has since expanded to include in-home care, a permanent living space and research center, and an app. ~ Keith Finke, Rovi