in 1985 he changed his stage-name to "welser-möst" after the town of wels where he grew up. he soon started to be invited to conduct major orchestras. he appeared at the salzburg festival in 1985, then conducted the london philharmonic orchestra in 1986 and, from 1989 he appeared a lot in the united states. he conducted the saint louis symphony orchestra, atlanta symphony orchestra, boston symphony orchestra, new york philharmonic and chicago symphony orchestra. in 1990, welser-möst became main (principal) conductor of the london philharmonic orchestra. he received a lot of criticism and left the lpo in 1996.