Music: Conductor in Waiting

Alexander Hilsberg is a man who knows how to bide his time. For 25 years he played his violin in the Philadelphia Orchestra, the last 19 as concertmaster. Most of that time, he was wishing he were a conductor. Says patient Alex Hilsberg: "Each man must wait his call."

Hilsberg's first important call came in 1946, when he substituted for ailing Eugene Ormandy in a Carnegie Hall concert, and made a hit with the tough Manhattan critics. By last week, 51-year-old Alex Hilsberg was a full-fledged, and very busy, conductor.

He started off the week leading the NBC Symphony (in Toscanini's absence). Next...