#MondaysWithMaestro By age 6, he had taught himself to play a wooden flute he’d carved himself. By his preteen years, he had started composing. But a young Dimitri Mitropoulos was drawn as much to religious life as to music. And life as a monk in the Greek Orthodox Church would not permit him to have musical instruments on sacred ground. He faced a crossroads. Would he choose a life devoted to faith — or to music? Mitropoulos chose the latter, inspiring generations of Greek musicians to follow in his footsteps, including the conductor of this fall’s “Eugene Onegin,” Vassilis Christopoulos (@vassilis.christopoulos). Who else inspired Christopoulos on his path to the conductor’s podium? Listen to find out. Then catch Christopoulos on stage in his U.S. debut, starting September 25: sfopera.com/onegin