Setting the stage: For conductor Jaap van Zweden, timing is everything

Being one of the world's most renowned conductors, Jaap van Zweden is well aware of the difference even the slightest change in timing can make. "If you walk on stage and start too early, you can destroy a whole evening. If you wait too long, you can also destroy a whole evening. Everything is in the timing," says the newly appointed music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, who started his four-year contract with the 2012/13 season.

"If you have a climax and the climax comes too early, you give away a highly important moment. And, of course, if the pace is too fast or too slow, you can ruin a piece very easily."

Born in Amsterdam, van Zweden played violin - "up to seven or eight hours a day" - and studied at the prestigious Juilliard School before becoming concertmaster of the Netherlands' Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at just 19.

In addition to his new role in Hong Kong, the maestro is music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, honorary chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and honorary conductor of the Radio Chamber Philharmonic.

The prolific van Zweden also makes special appearances with international orchestras, such as the Chicago Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic, and has made several critically acclaimed recordings, earning him the title Conductor of the Year for 2012 from classical music magazine Musical America. "If I had only the two orchestras [Dallas and Hong Kong], it would be very easy," he says. "But it's inspiring. You learn by just doing things that timing is everything - also with scheduling."