among them kensho watanabe, born in japan and recently named assistant conductor of the philadelphia orchestra. >> for kensho watanabe, landing the position of assistant conductor with the philadelphia orchestra is a dream. >> i just cant' think of a better place to start my career as a conductor. >> it's a job he's been preparing for nearly all of his 30 years. >> really my earliest memories are from playing the violin >> by age 9, he was spending every saturday in julliard's pre-college division. >> i loved it and i wanted to immerse myself in it. >> but he had no intention of making a career of it. he wanted his life's work to honor his grandfather. >> i lost him to colon cancer when i was 5 just after we moved to the states. from there, i thought i wanted to be a doctor. >> he stayed on that path even as he went to yale, joined the symphony and started conducting even as he earned his masters in violin. >> just to kind of tie it off and say you know this is my accomplishment in music and now i can move on to medicine >> he took his mcats, but also entered the master conductor pro