At age 15, he won the Oskar Back violin competition; this allowed him to attend the Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay.

Van Zweden began to work as a conductor after Leonard Bernstein invited him to lead an orchestra rehearsal in Berlin.

[3] In 2010, the orchestra announced that van Zweden would step down from the RFO chief conductorship in 2012 and take the position of honorary guest conductor.

[7] Based on it, the Dallas Symphony named Van Zweden its next music director after Andrew Litton, effective with the 2008-2009 season.

[10] In 2012, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) announced van Zweden's appointment as its next music director, with an initial contract of four years, starting 1 August 2012.

[13] In 2020, the HK Phil announced the extension of his contract through the 2023–2024 season, at which time he is scheduled to step down and to take the title of conductor laureate.

[19] In 2022, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra announced van Zweden's appointment as its music director, effective January 2024, with an initial contract of 5 years.

In February 2024, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France announced the appointment of van Zweden as its next music director, effective with the 2026-2027 season, with an initial contract of five years.