 In this capacity he led the premier of Igor Stravinsky’s choral and orchestral setting of The Star-Spangled Banner on October 14, 1941 at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles featuring the WPA Orchestra, Los Angeles Oratorio Society, and the WPA Negro Chorus.Beginning in 1942, he served as an assistant to Canadian conductor Wilfrid Pelletier at the Metropolitan Opera.He made his conducting debut at New York’s City Center Opera Company replacing Laszlo Halasz on February 25, 1944 for Friedrich von Flotow’s opera Martha.