AMONG HIS entourage, conductor Christoph Eschenbach is known as the maestro - a word that comes loaded with connotations of genius and ego.
People often imagine maestros as former child prodigies turned temperamental adults who pick at specks on their spotless tuxedos, scream at the new violin player when she plays a bad note, and demand that dressing rooms be redecorated with lavender-scented wallpaper.
So, it comes as a pleasant surprise to walk into the penthouse of Tokyo's Okura Hotel and be faced with a diffident, even shy man who radiates not fussy irritability, but stillness. With his shaven head and large soulful eyes, the 65-year-old director of the Philadelphia Orchestra looks more like a monk than one of the world's most feted musical talents - an impression of modesty that's confirmed by those around him.
'He's amazing - not only as a musician but as a human being,' says pianist Lang Lang, who's touring with the orchestra in Asia. 'He's one of the world's leading musicians, but his communication with the orchestra is so humble and honest.'
The monkish image of a man so dedicated to a single pursuit that he has no time for anything else is particularly apt for Eschenbach, who has never married. 'My family is my orchestra and my love is music,' he says. 'This is my life.'
Despite a formidable musical pedigree that includes an early career as Germany's top pianist, decades of highly regarded recording work, and stints as musical director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra (1988-1999) and Orchestre de Paris (a post he still holds), Eschenbach's lack of airs and simple love of music are well known. 'The Houston Symphony has a well- deserved reputation over the years of being a difficult and fractious group,' one industry insider told the Philadelphia Enquirer after Eschenbach's appointment as director of the city's 100-year-old orchestra was announced in 2001. 'And to a person, they love Eschenbach. They have nothing but respect for the man.'