Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander ( born March 9, 1939 in Gerrards Cross / Buckinghamshire ) is an English conductor.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Germany had as a child, composition and cello lessons. Compositions of the Nine Years' aroused the interest of Benjamin Britten, who invited him and his family during three summer at his residence in Aldebourgh, where he received when his assistant, Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav Holst lessons in music theory and composition.

From 1954 to 1959 he studied cello in Florence at Gaspar Cassadó, he also accompanied her on concert tours. Until 1964 he studied at the London University. From 1967 he taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he led the interpretation of classes and the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted. In 32 years he undertook with the orchestra thirteen international concert tours, played five commercial recordings and recorded several television documentaries for the Public Broadcasting Service.

Since 1979, Zander conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he primarily aufführte works of the late Romantic and early 20th centuries, including one complete cycle of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. The recording of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps was included in the list of the ten most important music events of the year the New York Times in 1992. Five CD recordings with the orchestra can be found in the Penguin Guide of the Best Recordings of the Past 20 Years.

In addition, Zander worked regularly with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, with whom he recorded a series of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies. The recording of Mahler's 9th Symphony was nominated for a Grammy. He conducted three years the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a guest conductor he has appeared with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish National Orchestra, the Irish National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Youth Orchestra and with orchestras such as the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the National Youth Orchestra of New Zealand and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

In addition to his musical activities Zander lectures internationally on the topic of team leadership, several times, for example, the World Economic Forum in Davos. With his wife, psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, he published the book The Art of Possibility, which has been translated into sixteen languages. From the International Council for Caring Communities ( ICCC ), he was awarded in 2002 as a " Caring Citizen of the Humanities ".