Sometimes it takes a detour to find one's calling.
That's what happened to conductor Julian Kuerti, who will make his Utah Symphony debut this coming weekend.
The son of Austrian-born pianist Anton Kuerti and the Hungarian-Canadian cellist Kristine Bogyo, Julian Kuerti wasn't sure if music was the way he wanted to go.
"It didn't seem I was forced to do anything," Kuerti said in a phone interview. "I began my studies as a violinist, but I never studied at a conservatory. I just did it on my own."
And when he enrolled at the University of Toronto, it wasn't in music. Instead, he majored in physics and engineering. "I did that for four years until I got my degree," he said.
While science held his interest, it didn't satisfy him. "Only after I got my degree did I realize that I had a deep curiosity for science, but it was never a passion. And I didn't want to do something that wasn't a passion."
When it dawned on him that he kept switching out his science books for music scores, he took a serious look at himself and the direction his life was taking him. "I had a crisis of belief when I saw that I was destined to be a musician."
But Kuerti didn't want to be a classical violinist. "I didn't have the chops to be a soloist."
He became interested in composition and wrote the soundtrack to a short film. "When it was recorded, I had to conduct it, and it was then that the light turned on for me," he said. "Conducting pulled all my talents together."
In 2000 he was accepted into the prestigious Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Maine, where he spent two summers studying with Michael Jinbo. "I was an absolute beginner," he said. "I was 24-25 years old and older than the others, so I had a lot of catching up to do. But it was a great experience and Michael Jinbo was great."
Kuerti, now 33, is in his third and final season as the Boston Symphony's assistant conductor. "It's been a fantastic and fabulous experience," he said. "I have a good relationship with the orchestra. They're great musicians and management is great."
The young conductor made headlines early last year at his subscription series debut in Boston in a concert that featured legendary pianist Leon Fleisher in Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. "He is marvelous," Kuerti said. "He brings real profundity and depth to his playing."
On two other occasions after his debut, Kuerti again caught the eyes and ears of concertgoers and critics when he stepped in at the last minute to replace music director James Levine and guest conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. "That was really incredible and thrilling," he said.
For his Utah Symphony debut, Kuerti will conduct the orchestra in excerpts from Berlioz's "Romeo et Juliette" and Smetana's early tone poem "Richard III." Principal bassoonist Lori Wike will be the soloist in John Williams' "The Five Sacred Trees," a work he wrote for the New York Philharmonic's principal bassoonist Judith LeClair.
Aside from the Williams concerto, Kuerti was asked to come up with a Shakespeare-themed program. "I wanted something a little different," he said. "I've done the Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev 'Romeo and Juliets' a lot, and there are so many other works inspired by Shakespeare."
The Berlioz was a given. "I've been fascinated by his 'Romeo et Juliette' since I was a kid. It's a wonderful work. We couldn't do the entire score, so we're just doing the orchestral excerpts."
And Kuerti wanted to do the Smetana since it's one of the composer's most infrequently played works. "You hardly ever hear it outside of his own country. I just jumped at the opportunity of doing it."
The same is true for the Williams concerto. "I'm really happy to do it. It's such a mystical work, it's really very beautiful."
Audiences familiar with Williams' film scores will be in for a surprise. "It's not in the same vein as his music for the screen," Kuerti said. "It's much more artfully constructed. He has a real way with the orchestra. You can really hear that he is a master of orchestration in this work."
Wike was a student at the Eastman School of Music when the work was debuted. "I took the train into New York for the weekend and heard the premiere, which was a very exciting experience for me," she said.
This will be the first time Wike will play the work, and she's looking forward to it. "I am especially pleased to have the opportunity to perform (it) and introduce such a wonderful concerto to our Salt Lake audience."
"The Five Sacred Trees" is based on ancient Celtic lore, and each movement has the name of one of the legendary sacred trees. "It's fascinatingly evocative and atmospheric," Wike said, "and extremely virtuosic in places."
If you go ...
What: Lori Wike, bassoon, Julian Kuerti, conductor, Utah Symphony
Where: Abravanel Hall
When: 8 p.m., Sept. 25 and 26
How much: $51-$16
Phone: 801-355-2787 or 888-451-2787
Web: utahsymphony.org
Also: Finishing Touches Dress Rehearsal, Abravanel Hall, 10 a.m., Sept. 25, $14
e-mail: ereichel@desnews.com