Noseda, in his prime, lifting National Symphony Orchestra

NEW YORK (AP) — After a piano rehearsal, two orchestra sessions and one concert performance together, soprano Christine Goerke gushed with praise for Gianandrea Noseda.

"He doesn't just use his hands and his arms. He conducts with his entire body," she said. "And it is amazing, because when you see that kind of energetic physicality, there is no mistaking what he is asking for."

Entering his prime, the 55-year-old Italian is in his third season as music director of Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, which he leads this week at the Kennedy Center and at New York's Lincoln Center on Sunday in the second act of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" with tenor Stephen Gould, Goerke and bass Günther Groissbock as King Marke.

Noseda is reviving the NSO, where he followed Antal Doráti (1970-77), Mstislav Rostropovich (1977-94), Leonard Slatkin (1996-2008) and Christoph Eschenbach (2010-17) as music director.

"There are a lot of good vibes there," Noseda said. "Fortunately, the community is coming back to the Kennedy Center."

Noseda already has led large choral works in Washington that have included Benjamin Britten's “War Requiem,” Giuseppe Verdi's “Requiem” and John Adams' "The Gospel According to the Other Mary," performances that leave his all-black conducting clothes drenched in so much sweat that he could be mistaken for having jumped in a pool.

"What's great about him is his attention and the enthusiasm for whatever music he's working on, particularly with the Wagner,” Gould said. "I think he approaches the music from, as I think Wagner even intended, especially with his earlier works, more from the Italian side, the more lyric side."

In a time where arts institutions battle to sell tickets, Noseda has expanded the NSO’s outreach by conducting the orchestra at Union Station, the Basilica of the...