In his 1932 Handbook of Conducting, German conductor Herman Scherchen described the orchestral conductor as a “master mind” and “almost superhuman … magician” who is “the vehicle for the manifestation of spiritual art.” Such talk won’t get you very far these days, but conductors still retain an aura that reflects their unusual role — somehow essential though producing no sound. How many of us can walk into a room of professional musicians and get them to perform a work the way we think it should be played?

British conductor Stephanie Childress, who will lead the San Diego Symphony in its annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular on Saturday, has built a promising career doing just that with orchestras as august as the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Cleveland Orchestra. T

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