Major talent watch: Mikko Franck, who will conduct the premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's opera, "Rasputin" next year, brought another of the composer's works, "Adagio celeste" to Davies Hall tonight, in his debut with the San Francisco Symphony. Premiered in Helsinki earlier this year, the "heavenly Adagio" is a brief, beautiful work, anchored in slowly pulsing notes. Added to other Rautavaara experiences, the Adagio has clinched my travel plans to the Finnish wilderness... although not in the winter. It's rare that you hear a new work and know that it's done right, but Franck created that impression effortlessly. Shorty, stocky and ridiculously young (23 - eight years younger than Midori, the eternal "child prodigy" featured on the program), Franck conducted the opening Adagio, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and a luminous Sibelius "Four Legends" with a seasoned, mature combination of firmness and sensitivity. He even managed to help Midori over some strangely overblown opening phrases (Mendelssohn as Mahler?), to a settled, consistent, stellar performance. Franck may well be the most promising kid conductor since Simon Rattle emerged from high school. Standing with effort, and perching on a stool for most of the evening, Franck is still showing the effect of severe childhood illnesses. He turned to the violin at age 5 and started reading orchestral scores while bedridden at 7. He started conducting studies at 16 at Sibelius Academy, and received his diploma in less than a year when the famed institution determined that "there is nothing else they can teach him." Apparently, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Stockholm and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra shared the faculty's high opinion because they both wanted him as their chief conductor. Franck felt that he is not ready to settle down, but earlier this year accepted an offer to be music director of the Belgian National Orchestra in Brussels. In his spare time, Franck has already led performances of schedule "The Magic Flute," "L'Elisir d'Amore," "Don Giovanni," "La Boheme" and "Khovanschina" in Finland, "La Traviata" in Oslo and "Carmen" at the Royal Stockholm Opera. Janos Gereben/SF www.sfcv.org [log in to unmask]