In rehearsal: Belmont Summer Music Festival

A music critic once said that standing in front of an orchestra for the first time is like a matador enter the bull fighting ring: control the beast or expect the worse. 

While the musician has every right to anticipate leaving the concert hall intact, without a firm hand and understanding of the work, a conductor can find himself trampled in a performance by an untamed group of musicians.

When he ascended the podium Thursday morning at Belmont's Beech Street Center, Nathaniel Meyer had the advantage of knowing nearly everyone in the orchestra.

See the accompanying video of the BSMF Orchestra's Thursday rehearsal.

Recruited via phone calls and facebook beginning in May, Meyer assembled his ensemble, the Belmont Summer Music Festival Orchestra, from friends and classmates he performed with in prestigious youth orchestras in Boston and the region. He also asked musicians he knew from matriculating at Yale to join.

Meyer wasn't facing a musical beast but rather coordinating a reunion of musical colleagues and acqaintances. 

"This is about making music and having fun," said Meyer, just before he took his baton and directed a rehearsal of the first movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, a whirlwind piece – it's known as Beethoven's "dance" symphony and has been choreographed by Balanchine – that has tripped up many a young conductor.

But Meyer had a grip on the music, leading the orchestra essentially through the work with little touches here and there – a bit quicker in the woodwinds, strings play together – with a short concluding talk about what Meyer is attempting to achieve with the work.

"We'll see how this works out this weekend," Meyer said, with his ever present smile.