Soon the young musician's reputation as a brilliant conductor of opera grew. He conducted the first performances of Puccini's "La Bohème" and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci". In 1896 he conducted his first symphonic concert (works by Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner), in Turin. By 1898 he was conductor at La Scala, Milan and he stayed there until 1908, but returned during the 1920s. He took the Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920-21; it was during that tour that Toscanini made his first recordings (for the Victor Talking Machine Company).