named the resident music director and principal conductor of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in Tennessee at the age of 24. Joó was the youngest ever music director/conductor of a metropolitan orchestra in the history of the United States. During this time he guest conducted in many places including the Netherlands, Mexico, and the US. At the age of 26, the cultural arm of the United Nations, UNESCO, selected him to conduct a special performance representing the United States in Monte Carlo — which he accomplished to great critical acclaim. At this time he became a private student/confidante of the Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini. Next he became the music director and principal conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time he had many guest conducting appearances all over the world, with many leading orchestras of the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Philharmonic, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra. In 1980 and 1981, Joó recorded the complete orchestral works of Béla Bartók with the Budapest Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras. Virtually all the newspapers and magazines in the United States and Europe such as Newsweek, Time, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday Review, Chicago Tribune, The Times, (even Sports Illustrated and National Geographic) hailed these recordings as a milestone both in digital (then new) technology and the quality of the performances. Stereo Review (1981) awarded the Record of the Year to Joó for his five-disc Bartók set. In 1982, he recorded the complete orchestral works of Kodály. For the next 15 years, he conducted many of the leading orchestras of the world and toured in Germany, England, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands. In 1987, Joó took the position of music director and principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica De Radio Television Espanola in Madrid, Spain (Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra) under royal patronage. He was only the third foreign–born conductor to hold this position (after Igor Markevitch and Sergiu Comissiona). In 1987, Joó recorded the complete orchestral works of Franz Liszt for which he has received the coveted "Grand Prix du Disque" in Paris, directly from the French Minister of Culture, Mr. Leotard. Joó held the positions of principal guest conductor of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the European Community Chamber Orchestra. (Residency: London, England) Later he became the music director and