Szell soon realized that what he wanted to do most was to conduct. He stopped composing, although he kept up his piano playing until the end of his life. Richard Strauss got him some work with the Berlin Staatsoper in 1915. He conducted in several German opera houses, including Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, again in Berlin from 1924-1929 and then Prague (1929-1937). He first conducted in the United States in 1930 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. At this time he was better known as an opera conductor than as a conductor of orchestral concerts.