"There isn't an orchestra in the United States that doesn't have a Carnegie Mellon alumnus," says Noel Zahler, head of the university's music department.

In his first year, Zahler has taken major steps to enhance the 100-member Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic, already considered among the top university orchestras in the country. Next on the list is auditioning candidates to be conductor, starting with a concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

The guest conductor will be Steven Smith, the first of five candidates for the opening created by the retirement last May of conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo. Smith, the music director of the Sante Fe Symphony & Chorus, will be followed by David Loebel (Oct. 31), music director and conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra; Scott Parkman (Jan. 18), former assistant conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Gil Rose (April 14), a guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and Ronald Zollman (April 29), conductor of Indiana University's Opera and Ballet Theater.

Zahler says the year ahead will be a busy one, and not just because CMU students perform more than 300 concerts annually. The music school took in its largest class this year, double the original quota. Although the facilities are strained, he feels that CMU has the class space and expertise to attend to their needs and prepare them for an ever-changing world.

Stringed-instrument students will have the opportunity to work with the Parker Quartet, the university's new quartet in residence. The group, which won the 2005 Concert Artists Guild Competition, replaces longtime resident group Cuarteto Latinoamericano. The residencies will now change each year.

Under Zahler's leadership, the philharmonic will provide the finale for CMU's New York week on Jan. 18 and collaborate with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera. The orchestra will welcome CMU -- along with Duquesne University, the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Opera -- April 3-19 for a Rachmaninoff Festival at Heinz Hall.

"Carnegie Mellon University is a place for innovation," says Zahler, who is a noted composer in his own right. "The university doesn't have to heed to a box-office syndrome and we have a lot more rehearsal time. So one of my charges is to do really adventurous programming."

Graduating students are treated as complete musicians, artists who can speak, write and program concerts for different audiences. The future will include a new set of degrees in music technology in partnership with the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the School of Computer Science.

Tickets are $5 for the CMU Philharmonic concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. Information: 412-268-2383.