The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra opens its 2008-2009 season with an all-Russian music program Oct. 25 at the Pantages Theater. The symphony’s special guest is Van Cliburn competition medalist, Aviram Reichert, performing Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2.”

But in addition to signaling the start of a new season, the October opener also represents a milestone for TSO Music Director and conductor, Harvey Felder: the maestro has served as the group’s leader for 15 years.

Before coming to Tacoma, Felder had been working as an assistant conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony and had also become a staff conductor at St. Louis. Felder describes both groups as “fabulous orchestras,” but his own experiences there were limited to conducting at pops concerts and “young people’s” events, often with very abbreviated rehearsal schedules. Often, Felder recalls, “They’d say, ‘here’s your repertoire; you have an hour to rehearse it and tomorrow night you perform it.’

“And when you’re working in that kind of environment, you don’t get a chance to really ‘dig into’ a piece of music and really understand it, come to an artistic understanding of it and then deliver it — first to your orchestra, and then to your audience,” he adds.

That opportunity came when Felder learned that the Tacoma Symphony was searching for a new music director. The organization was also looking for a music director who could help transform the orchestra from mostly amateur orchestra to a professional ensemble.

“That undertaking was my mission,” Harvey says of the start of his tenure as music director. Now, he adds, “we’ve obviously made that transition.” But Felder isn’t ready to leave the TSO. “I want to see how much better we can get, how much further we can go.”

[Pantages Theater, 7:30 p.m., $10-$60, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.272.7264, www.tacomasymphony.org]