Quietly, Alexandre Rudajev enters the rehearsal hall. Gaining his bearings, he climbs the stairs to a balcony just above the conductor's left shoulder, where he listens to the final minutes of a Mahler symphony. Rudajev's long hair and attire (corduroy suit with suspenders) give him an academic air.

The musicians set Mahler aside. Rudajev's Fanfare, a piece commissioned by the Florida Orchestra, is about to get its first reading. A world premiere is scheduled for the following week.

``For me, it is a highly exciting moment,`` Rudajev will say later, describing his state-of-mind whenever he hears one of his own compositions for the first time. ``I would say, it is like, here is the mother-to-be. She knows that she is pregnant. She feels the baby in her belly, right? And it is her first baby ...