Sometimes it takes a detour to find one's calling.

That's what happened to conductor Julian Kuerti, who will make his Utah Symphony debut this coming weekend.

The son of Austrian-born pianist Anton Kuerti and the Hungarian-Canadian cellist Kristine Bogyo, Julian Kuerti wasn't sure if music was the way he wanted to go.

"It didn't seem I was forced to do anything," Kuerti said in a phone interview. "I began my studies as a violinist, but I never studied at a conservatory. I just did it on my own."

And when he enrolled at the University of Toronto, it wasn't in music. Instead, he majored in physics and engineering. "I did that for four years until I got my degree," he said.

While science held his interest, it didn't satisfy him. "Only after I got my degree did I realize that I had a deep curiosity for science, but it was never a passion. And I didn't want to do something that wasn't a passion."

When it dawned on him that he kept switching out his science books for music scores, he took a serious look at himself and the direction his life was taking him. "I had a crisis of belief when I saw that I was destined to be a musician."

But Kuerti didn't want to be a classical violinist. "I didn't have the chops to be a soloist."

He became interested in composition and wrote the soundtrack to a short film. "When it was recorded, I had to conduct it, and it was then that the light turned on for me," he said. "Conducting pulled all my talents together."

In 2000 he was accepted into the prestigious Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Maine, where he spent two summers studying with Michael Jinbo. "I was an absolute beginner," he said. "I was 24-25 years old and older than the others, so I had a lot of catching up to do. But it was a great experience and Michael Jinbo was great."

Kuerti, now 33, is in his third and final season as the Boston Symphony's assistant conductor. "It's been a fantastic and fabulous experience," he said. "I have a good relationship with the orchestra. They're great musicians and management is great."

The young conductor made headlines early last year at his subscription series debut in Boston in a concert that featured legendary pianist Leon Fleisher in Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. "He is marvelous," Kuerti said. "He brings real profundity and depth to his playing."

On two other occasions after his debut, Kuerti again caught the eyes and ears of concertgoers and critics when he stepped in at the last minute to replace music director James Levine and guest conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. "That was really incredible and thrilling," he said.