Benjamin Zander started his early musical training under the guidance of his father, in his native England, with lessons in cello and composition. At nine, Benjamin Britten, England's leading composer, took an interest in him and invited the family to spend three summers in Aldeburgh where he lived. This led to a long association with Britten and lessons in theory and composition from close associate Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav Holst. Leaving school at fifteen, he went to study in Florence with the great cello virtuoso, Gaspar Cassadó, who was his teacher and mentor for the next five years. He completed his cello training at State Academy in Cologne, traveling and performing extensively with Cassadó. Benjamin completed a degree at London University, winning the University College Essay Prize, and Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship for post-graduate work at Harvard. Boston has been his home ever since. In 1967, Zander joined the Faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he teaches the Interpretation Class, conducts the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly conducts the Conservatory's orchestras. He became the Artistic Director of the joint program between NEC and Walnut Hill, a boarding school for Performing Arts. During his tenure as conductor of NEC's Youth Philharmonic he has taken the orchestra on 13 international tours, made five commercial recordings, and several TV documentaries. In 1979, Benjamin became the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In their seasons together they have performed an extensive repertoire, with an emphasis on late Romantic and early 20th Century composers, including a traversal of the complete cycle of symphonies of Gustav Mahler. To celebrate the orchestra's 25th Anniversary they completed an all-Mahler season, including a concert of Mahler's Second Symphony in Carnegie Hall. BPO has recorded five extremely successful CDs, all of which are listed in the Penguin Guide of the Best Recordings of the Past 20 Years. Their recording of "The Rite of Spring" was named one of the 10 Most Important Musical Events of 1992 by the New York Times. Benjamin Zander has conducted orchestras as diverse as the Israel Philharmonic, Scottish and Irish National Orchestras, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Malaysian Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and appeared with the National Youth Orchestra of New Zealand and Australian Youth Orchestra. He has a unique relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London with whom he is recording a series of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies for Telarc label. The phenomenal success of these discs is in part due to the eloquent discussion discs which accompany each disc. His recording of Mahler's 9th Symphony was nominated for a Grammy Award. Benjamin Zander has an extensive speaking career, traveling the world lecturing to organizations on leadership. The best-selling book, The Art of Possibility, co-authored with his partner, psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, has been translated into sixteen languages. In 2002, he was awarded the "Caring Citizen of the Humanities" Award by the International Council for Caring Communities at the United Nations. Titles Experiencing the Art of Possibility Presentation explores Leadership, Teamwork, Creativity, Relationships, Partnerships and the Liberation of the Human Spirit. It involves audience participation, musical demonstrations and singing. Topics Leadership, Creativity, Relationships, Team Building, Music, Celebrity Click topic above to see more speakers on that topic Speaker's Asking Fee Range Please call us. Click on fee range to see more speakers. This is the starting keynote fee range - other programs may be higher. State MA Click on state above to see more speakers from that state. Fees The fee range quoted means the speaker's fee starts somewhere within that range. Note that speaker's fees are subject to change and some speakers may have special fee quotes.