That was in June. As you read this Oundjian has taken over as the TSO's music director. When we spoke, however, he was still the interim director, who also acted as one of the TSO's now-and-then guest conductors. With his mind very much engaged in preparing for the 2004/5 season he conveyed an infectious vigor and an openness that stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, the incommunicative Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Of course, we did not speak about that. It is Oundjian I had come to find about, and what the new season might hold for us, the audience.

What do you consider yourself?" I asked him because much has been of made of his having been born in Toronto. He had, however, spent his formative years in England, and then moved to the United States. There, he, his wife Nadine and two children, make their home in small-town Connecticut, but within easy reach of Yale University, where he teaches, and New York City. He laughed at my question. "Let me tell you a story," he then said, one he had told at his wedding about a driving experience in Germany years ago. He had come across a speed zone and had to produce his driver's licence, which was British, and his passport, which was Canadian. The police officer seemed befuddled by his name. "He wanted to know what kind of name Oundjian is, and I told him it is Armenian." Now the officer really became confused and asked, "Where do you live?" to which Oundjian replied, "in the United States," and to make things worse, he added, "I play in the Tokyo String Quartet."

There was a boyish grin on the conductor's face as he told the story. I, too, had to laugh. I envisioned the circuits of the officer's tidy German mind smoldering as he tried to compute these facts, in addition to which he surely had no idea that the Tokyo Strings do not reside in Tokyo, and had been founded in 1969 at New York's Juilliard School of Music.

"I have to admit," Oundjian then replied to my question, "the more I come to Toronto, the more I feel at home again." That was comforting to hear because more than anything else local symphony enthusiasts want to be assured that their new conductor does not look down on their city, nor on their country or North America. Later in the conversation, we briefly came back to how the subject of Toronto. "I love it here," he said with enthusiasm. "It is one of the greatest cities in the world."

The conversation then turned to music and the new season. It will be a varied season, he assured me, and will include thematic programs. His connection with the Tokyo String Quartet has made him known for his depth of knowledge and understanding of Mozart and Beethoven, but Oundjian in no way is afraid of new music. While still in his interim TSO position, he launched a New Creations Competition. The audience at the opening concert of the new season in September, with Oundjian now firmly at the helm of the orchestra, will get to hear the world premiere of the winning entry by Canadian composer Matthew Whittal, called The Short Road To Nirvana. The other two composers featured in the program will be Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.

Emanuel Ax will be the guest artist in another September concert when he will play Chopin, and the TSO will perform Gustav Mahler. And Oundjian will also take to the podium on October 1, when cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform Dvorák's Cello Concerto, and the TSO will play the composer's Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World'.

I expressed my personal dislike of some of the music that has been composed in the past few decades, that of the minimalists and various other schools, which to me lack energy and colour. He diplomatically veered away from singling out any specific school or composer, but admitted, "There is music that I am asked to conduct that I cannot understand." Such honesty is rare in a world where ego reigns supreme.

He assured me, however, that there is much to look forward to in new music. "There is a kind of sexiness to neo-Romanticism," a school of music that is  making itself felt more and more in the musical repertoire. "Jacques Hétu is writing a concerto for us," he said. Hétu, whose work has been described as neo-romantic, happens to be one of my favourite Canadian composers, so that was good news. Also to come are new works by Gary Kulesha, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Raymond Luedeke, who are all rising stars not just on the Canadian horizon. He also mentioned John Estacio, although his work does not seem to be on the 2004/5 season play list.

I complained that Canadian composers had so far failed to create music that can be clearly identified with Canada. Oundjian's response was the reassuring impression that while there are quite a number of talented Canadian composers, "what we have are a few great Canadian composers that write for the world."

Considering the wide exposure Oundjian has had to international audiences while being a member of the Tokyo String Quartet, I wondered how he sees Canadian audiences. Oundjian, a former violinist of considerable gifts, gave up the instrument for conducting only because he suffered from what has been described as focal dystonia, which impaired the muscle tone of his playing hand. "I find the audience wonderful here. It is a cross between U.S. and European audiences."

As for having become a conductor after having been a renowned violinist in a renowned chamber orchestra, he unhesitatingly announced, "It is a very changed world. This is a very good time for me to conduct because I am passionate about sharing with the audience about listening [to music]!"

The conductor is not in the least bit disturbed when someone in the audience claps after an especially exciting movement, which has always been considered gauche. He thinks that is just fine. He also likes to explain certain texts or the history of a work that will be performed. He translated for the audience the lyrics of Elegischer Gesang, one of the works by Beethoven featured in the concert he conducted the previous two evenings. Although described as being by an unknown poet, Oundjian thinks Beethoven wrote it especially for this composition.

While in North America audiences are used to music directors participating in the life of the community and, in fact, expect it, as well as enjoy it when the conductors give them a little spiel beforehand, this is not so in many European countries. Oundjian loves being involved and likes it that "many of the audiences welcome the humanizing experience here." It surprised me to hear him tell that while he conducted in the Netherlands, the audience expected a similar lively interaction with the conductor. "In Holland they always asked me to speak to the audience." It seemed so contrary to my own experiences in Europe.

Then the telephone rang, and just as he doesn't mind audiences clapping at supposedly inappropriate moments, so he didn't mind in the least that I snapped a picture of him. A more willing and unselfconscious photo subject I haven't met in a long time.

The 'phone conversation over, we talked a little about liking jazz. Almost as a test, he threw in the only recently deceased Ray Charles. When I screwed up my face, he agreed rhetorically, "that isn't really jazz, is it?"