1.   Abbado, who was to have conducted but was recovering from a viral infection, yielded the podium to the assistant conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, Graziella Contratto.

2.   After several years as assistant conductor of the San Francisco Opera and then of the Metropolitan Opera, Jones began performing as a pianist with singers.

3.   Burger studied music at the Vienna Academy, then joined the Berlin Opera as assistant conductor.

4.   But all major orchestras have a number of assistant conductors on staff.

5.   Haas is the pops conductor of the Corpus Christi Symphony and an assistant conductor of the Haddonfield Symphony in New Jersey and the National Repertory Orchestra.

6.   He continues as music director in Eugene, Ore., and Auckland, New Zealand, and as assistant conductor of Los Angeles Philharmonic.

7.   He has come a long way since arriving at Tanglewood as a Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor a dozen years ago.

8.   He might have seemed a logical choice for the Boston Symphony, where he was once an assistant conductor.

9.   He played the viola, conducted the New Jersey Philharmonic and harbored dreams of becoming an assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic.

10.   He replaces Arthur Post, who will become assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony.