It is fair to assume that anyone reading this column is a music lover of some degree. Take a moment to reflect, though, that there was a time in your life when you had never heard a note of music. What was it that inveigled your innocent ear? When was it? Where were you? Who introduced you?

Introductions are a vital part of the process of life, a key link in the chain of human relationships. They are no less consequential in music than they are in business, courtship or politics. Even the simple act of taking a friend to a concert elevates you for that precious period to the role of introducer.

There is no more important introducer in the world of music than a conductor. To many, he appears to wave his wand over the orchestra and conjure up the sounds which so beguile the ear and enchant the heart. This is only a part of his work though. Equally essential is the conductor's role in determining the choice of program and performers.

The process of life goes on. As the older generation passes into history, the younger generation comes onstage to gain experience and exposure. Accordingly, the conductor's choices from time to time inevitably reflect the introduction into the concert experience of new pieces and new people. In making these adventurous choices he allows the audience to experience discovery. The more mature and prescient his vision and commitment, the more exciting the experience is for us all.

Hiroshima Kokyo Gakudan

Feb. 2, Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting in Sumida Triphony Hall -- Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 35, featuring Kota Nagahara; Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36 "Fate" (Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, 1840-93)

Founded in 1972, the 67-member Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama participated in the 2000 festival of visiting Japanese orchestras, one of the attractive innovations of Sumida Triphony Hall.

The all-Tchaikovsky program was well designed to suit the orchestra and please the audience of Hiroshima supporters in the capital. With two works from the composer's middle period, it had artistic integrity. The careful conducting also insured precise coordination and an accomplished ensemble. It was safe and conservative, but it worked.

Akiyama, 59, is among the most well known of Japan's senior conductors, and one of the busiest in the field. He has many opportunities to meet emerging talents in many parts of the world, and to present the most promising in his performances in Japan. For the soloist in Tchaikovsky's popular but challenging violin concerto, he chose to introduce 19-year-old Hiroshima violinist Kota Nagahara, a first-year student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

This is a soloist to watch. Nagahara's beautifully glowing tone and old-world temperament were a marked and welcome departure from the showoff technical virtuosity of so many Japanese prodigies, and it was good to hear the care he took to play all of the notes honestly. Taking extra space to insure that all of the delicious nuances could be heard before being succeeded by another musical effect, Akiyama gave him good support, to give pride of place to the solo playing.

Shinsei Nihon Kokyo Gakudan

Feb. 19, Othmar Maga conducting in Suntory Hall -- "Scenes from Basho" (Joji Yuasa, born in Koriyama in 1929); Symphony No. 8 in C Minor (Josef Anton Bruckner, 1824-96)

The Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1970, and the 67-member orchestra is marking its 30th anniversary season with pairs of subscription concerts presented in the city's two principal concert halls.

Born in Brno in what is now the Czech Republic, of Hungarian and German parents, Othmar Maga, 59, has served as music director in Bochum, Germany, and chief conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Korea. He has had many opportunities to examine new scores from composers in many parts of the world, and to present the most promising in his performances in Japan. For a Japanese work to precede the lengthy Bruckner symphony which occupied the second half of the program, he chose to introduce four movements from Joji Yuasa's 20-year-old suite, "Scenes from Basho."

Matsuo Basho was an Edo-Period poet famous for rigorously constructed haiku. According to Yuasa, the world of haiku described imaginary landscapes from a universe of human beings in unison with nature. The composer described his music not as a musical reflection of the poetry but in consensus with the world of Basho's haiku, a distinction as subtle as the gentle effects which characterized the compositional style. Just as the imagery of haiku is typically implied more than stated, the impression of form, purpose and message in the music was equally elusive.

The concrete formal structures, massive block sonorities and profound emotional depth of Bruckner's enormous eighth symphony were in great contrast to the Oriental subtleties of the Yuasa, and rendered all the more telling by the juxtaposition of the two works on the unequal halves of the program. Maga did not show himself inclined to stretch the rubato that lends the slow-moving music emotional juice, but the careful attention to detail produced a well-paced performance.

The sustained expressive power and dynamic contrasts required for this work are a test for any orchestra. The JSSO musicians seemed to relish the opportunity to luxuriate in the work's large, uncomplicated dimensions. Perhaps it is time to think again about the name of this orchestra. Three decades ago it was a new star, a shinsei, but the JSSO has long since become an established and mature member of the community of Tokyo orchestras.