Returning to the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo in January after a highly successful debut three years ago, Skrowaczewski again scored a major triumph. Daily scenes of excited orchestral players, hour-long queues after concerts to sign CDs (when he wished his name was not quite so long!), and e-mails from the management about the audience reaction being “something we could rarely experience” have resulted in an immediate re-invitation to conduct the orchestra’s traditional Beethoven 9th Symphony concerts in December 2000, a special honour as the performances are marking their final concert of the century.