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It’s no secret that at the top of my wish-list in the search for a successor to Andris Nelsons as CBSO music director were two veteran conductors, the American Andrew Litton and the Dutchman Jac van Steen. Both are highly experienced, much-loved by the orchestra and indeed its audience, and were unlikely at this point in their well-established careers to be lured into moving elsewhere.

But then last July, a concert slotted into a “dead” part of the musical year brought Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla to our attention, and my whole perspective changed.

It was a stunning account of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, always a searching benchmark, which made me (and indeed the players) sit up and take notice. And when late in the autumn it was announced that a hastily-arranged concert was being shoe-horned into the regular calendar in order to bring the young Lithuanian conductor back in front of the orchestra, the buzz began that something special was on the cards.

So on the second Sunday in January Mirga reappeared, conducting a programme which put so many skills to the test: phrasing with a flexibility which allowed orchestral soloists to make telling contributions, collaborating with a young pianist in one of the world’s best-known concertos (and one not without its pitfalls), and making sense of the jagged structures and kaleidoscopic colours of a gritty large-scale work.

She triumphed spectacularly, to huge audience acclaim (and it was a nice bonus to hear the measured clarity of her speaking voice as she informed us of a change in movement-order), and the players seemed highly enthused, too.

It helps that she so obviously enjoys conducting, relishing the partnership she shares with her colleagues. It was charming to see her beaming and silently applauding the delivery of important solos, and to see her beaming with pleasure as every effect came off successfully.

Enthusiasm is one thing, but how about the skills? Well, Mirga, though still barely 30 is already highly experienced in a variety of fields - opera and choral, as well as orchestral - and her conducting technique has an armoury of styles appropriate to whatever the music demands.

She can beat time with acute precision, or swoop and persuade balletically (much in the manner of Nelsons - perhaps it’s a Baltic trait). She can shape structures with a clear sense of direction, and she can point rhythmic detail with witty verve. To everything she tackles she brings an irresistible freshness and a sense that this is right for this moment.