After a piano rehearsal, two orchestra sessions and one concert performance together, soprano Christine Goerke gushed with praise for Gianandrea Noseda. "He doesn't just use his hands and his arms. He conducts with his entire body," she said. "And it is amazing, because when you see that kind of energetic physicality, there is no mistaking what he is asking for."

Entering his prime, the 55-year-old Italian is in his third season as music director of Washington's National Symphony Orchestra. Noseda is reviving the NSO, where he followed Antal Doráti (1970-77), Mstislav Rostropovich (1977-94), Leonard Slatkin (1996-2008) and Christoph Eschenbach (2010-17) as music director.