Eagle Scout that he is, Jerry Steichen is prepared for just about any musical situation.

Steichen, the Utah Symphony's new principal pops conductor, is equally comfortable conducting symphonic masterworks, opera and musical theater. Not only is he an accomplished accompanist -- having studied collaborative piano with one of the discipline's pioneers -- he's played one on Broadway. He's even worked in arts administration.

Growing up in the 1970s in Tonkawa, Okla., Steichen never considered music as a career. "I kind of thought everybody could play the piano" as he and his five siblings did, he explained. Young Jerry thought he'd be an international tax lawyer, despite having only a dim idea of what that entailed, because that was the sort of thing a smart and ambitious young Midwesterner aspired to. He enrolled at Northern Oklahoma College in accounting and pre-law, but took music classes as well.

Music's pull proved irresistible. Steichen reasoned that he always could go to law school later. "I knew I wanted to go into music; the question was what flavor, what branch," he said.

He had been studying piano since he was 5 and playing the organ professionally since he was 15; he also played harpsichord, various woodwind instruments and some percussion. He entered Oklahoma City University on a full bassoon scholarship ("They needed bassoonists," he explained) but soon concluded he didn't want to spend his life making reeds, so he switched majors to voice and played a succession of secondary leads and character roles in school productions.

"After a few shows, I realized I was much more interested in the other side of the footlights," he said. "I was more interested in creating art, shaping what was onstage, rather than being an actor." He started as a rehearsal pianist doing summer stock at Music Theatre of Wichita, Kan., and worked his way up to conductor.

Steichen's career took another twist when he got a job directing Tulsa Opera's artist-training program, what he termed a "trial by fire" that sparked his love of the art form. He was all set to study opera conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music when his life zigzagged yet again: On a whim, he auditioned for renowned accompanying teacher Gwendolyn Koldofsky at the University of Southern California. He ended up with a full scholarship and a paid position in the school's opera department but, true to form, took a break midway through the master's program when he was accepted into the San Francisco Opera's 10-week Merola training program.

"Then I decided to learn more about the business of music," he said. "A school's priority is to teach you how to make art, not how to make a living doing what you love. How do I pay my bills now that I have a degree?" A stint as artistic administrator of Greater Miami Opera taught him a lot about budgeting, contract negotiations and payroll, but "the one thing I did not do was make music," he said.

Musical jobs at three diverse churches "kept me alive in Miami," he said, but after a year, he was unhappy that he wasn't making music every day, so he decided to move to New York and hang out his shingle as a coach. He joined the touring companies of "The Secret Garden," "The Phantom of the Opera" and Cathy Rigby's "Peter Pan," conducted the final public performance of "Cats" on Broadway and became a regular at New York City Opera. He also played Manny the accompanist to Dixie Carter's Maria Callas in "Master Class."

A meeting with Utah Festival Opera director Michael Ballam led to six seasons conducting at the summer festival in Logan. Steichen was soon a regular at Utah Opera and Utah Symphony pops concerts as well. "I fell in love with Utah," he said. "It feels like Oklahoma in terms of how friendly it is; people look at you when you're talking to them. I want to be part of this community."

Steichen has already proved himself as an advocate for the organization, said Utah Symphony | Utah Opera CEO Melia Tourangeau." "He loves Utah, and he knows his stuff when it comes to entertaining on the podium."

Tourangeau is also delighted with Steichen's commitment to spend a couple of weeks at a time in Salt Lake City even when he isn't conducting the orchestra, despite other part-time conducting jobs in Ridgefield and New Haven, Conn. "He wants to do as much off the podium as on," she said.