It has been my dream since I was four. My mother brought me to my first concert and I was mesmerised by this long-haired conductor waving his "chopstick". Afterwards, I told my mum that's what I wanted to be. The concert [by the then Macau Orchestra] left a lasting impression on me and I can still remember it was a Brahms symphony that they played. I started learning the piano shortly after and I came to Hong Kong to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts when I was 16. But it wasn't until after I finished my master's degree in New York that I finally got to fulfil my dream in conducting [at the Curtis Institute and the New England Conservatory of Music].

It's a very personal choice, actually. Without the baton I feel freer with my hands but with it it's clearer because it's basically an extension of your arm, so people can see it better. It depends on the music and how I can serve the musicians. I go sometimes with and sometimes without depending on the context.

With the score, it's not a sense of being secure because I already know the music by heart. But with the score sometimes I can find something unexpected during a concert and I can take another route. It's like you're driving and reading a map and you realise you can drive this route. If you don't read the map, you'll just drive the same way.

Yes, I used to wear black all the time and because I travel so much, it's easier. I have 12 of the same black T-shirts and I bring at least six of them, so for two weeks I'm good, you know, washing and rewearing them. But this summer right before touring with the Philadelphia Orchestra to Europe I opened my closet and I was like [face palm] this is all black. I talked to our music director Yannick [Nezet-Seguin] — he has a very good sense of fashion — and we decided to go shopping. So I went shopping with my boss, tried clothes on, and bought a lot of colourful shirts. Now I like shopping.

I listen to all kinds of music, including pop. My favourite Canto-pop singer? [Eason] Chan Yik-shun. I like his songs.

It's hard to nail down one in particular because each performance is an unforgettable experience. But one of the more recent ones was in October when I had my first-ever show with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for which I've been the assistant conductor since September.

I love to cook. When I first moved to America, it was like: I don't want to eat burgers every single day and gain a lot of weight. So I decided to learn how to cook, both Chinese and [Western] cuisines. It started my passion for food. I guess being a chef is equivalent to being a conductor. For cooking, it's about timing and the sense of balance. Music is the same thing — you want to hear the strings, the brass — and also creativity. They're very similar and for that reason, I'm very serious about cooking. [Dishes I've made include] fresh pasta with lobster and white truffle risotto.