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A conductor leads a performance of Ariadne auf Naxos in St. Petersburg Tuesday night, then boards a private jet headed west to New York at a speed of 600 miles per hour. In New York he is scheduled to conduct a performance of Boris Godunov on Wednesday night at the Metropolitan, then travel east the 4,700 mile distance to St. Petersburg where he will conduct Ariadne again on Thursday.

Question: Who is going to conduct Boris at the Met tonight? Please show your work.

Answer: “Pavel Smelkov will conduct this evening’s performance of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, replacing Valery Gergiev who is suffering from exhaustion and resting in St. Petersburg. Gergiev still plans to conduct this Saturday’s matinee performance.”