"I knew they were going to be good, but this was ridiculous--they were staggering. I said to myself, 'What a gas it would be to play in this orchestra' So I went backstage and talked to the conductor. I told him I loved his group and I'd love to play with them. And he was really friendly and said. "Oh, but we do need horns and why don't you come play for me sometime." But he was leaving the next day--maybe it will still work out."

Jim Ross probably doesn't need to worry much about his future. A prodigy on the French horn form an early age. and the conductor of the Bach Society Orchestra for the last year and a half, Ross has already made many of the necessary connections for a solo career in music.

Next year, as the winner of the Paine Travelling Fellowship--awarded by the Music Department each year--he will travel through Europe studying horn and conducting.

"I'm not sure where I'm going." he says. "but I definitely want to figure out what I really want to do--whether it's crucial for me to start conducting right away when I'm young, or whether I should pursue a solo career first, and ease into it that way."

He names Switzerland. Munich, Stuttgart. Milan and Leipzig--home of the "staggering" Gewandhaus Orchestra--as possible stopping points during his travels. "These are all the places where I can work with good people. Despite my wealth of experience here, I have never actually taken a course in conducting--at this point I would like to learn something about the trade."

For the year after next. Ross has been offered solo management from Grapa Concert--an arts management firm that recently opened in New York City. And over this summer he plans to play with the Boston Pops, a "great job" which he looks forward to as a means of staying both cool and rich during the hot summer months.

Ross has the same relaxed attitude about his year in Europe. "I took German A freshman year," he says, "so I think I'll be able to manage."