This article
appeared in the Oct. 9, 2003 Jewish Advocate.
Benjamin ZanderÕs
BSO to perform full season of Gustav Mahler
By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
For twenty-four seasons, the repertorial
span of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, while aptly encompassing a wide
variety of musical works, has favored the late Romantic and early Twentieth
Century. This 25th anniversary year, the ensemble, which comprises
85 players (including the AdvocateÕs Sylvia Rothchild on cello), will be performing an all-Mahler season.
ItÕs a fitting distinction, as the
orchestra was formed in the
wake of a seminal, 1978 performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony by the
then-Civic Symphony of Boston at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. On Oct. 3, BSO conductor Benjamin Zander
discussed the music of Mahler at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.
Born at Kaliste in Bohemia, Gustav Mahler
(1860-1911), the son of a Jewish peddler, achieved international fame as a
conductor and composer, completing nine symphonies and much of a tenth.
Zander, a Cambridge resident, was born in
1939 in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghampshire, England. He began composing at the age
of nine; at twelve, his parents took him to a performance of MahlerÕs Fourth
Symphony. ÒAt the first weird sounds of the sleigh bells, I realized I was
stepping into a magical world, which has held me in thrall ever since,Ó he
recalled, noting that when he began conducting MahlerÕs Kindertotenlieder in
1974, Òthe music entered my psyche and began to actually shape the way I
experienced my life.Ó
It was a new language. ÒIt held in a
single moment the anguish of loss, the possibility of renewal and the courage
that comes from love,Ó he said of MahlerÕs form and boundary-bending
structures. ÒThe waltzes, klezmer, popular tunes and band music, brass fanfares
and sounds of everyday life pushed me to relinquish what I had learned about
high art and compelled me to explore the extremities of experience and be
stopped by nothing.Ó
Orchestra and audience members have been
similarly affected. ÒI had been urging and cajoling the orchestra to be
flexible, almost to the breaking point,Ó Zander said. ÒFrom Mahler I learned to
coax the players to go beyond the point where their training and decorum told
them to hold back, so that we could open those same gates for the listeners.Ó
Zander, who began learning cello and
composition under his fatherÕs guidance, was, at the age of twelve, the
youngest member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He continued
cello study at the State Academy and the State Conservatoire in Cologne,
Germany, won the English Literature Essay Prize while at University College in
London, and taught at the Yhudi Menuhin School for gifted children. Following a
Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship, he did graduate work at Brandeis and Harvard,
and has remained in Boston ever since. On the Faculty at the New England
Conservatory since 1967, he has conducted its Youth Philharmonic Orchestra
through twelve international tours, and for the past 18 years, has been the
Artistic Director of its program with the Walnut Hill School in Natick.
Following seven years of conducting the Civic Symphony Orchestra, the BSO was
founded for him.
ZanderÕs guest conducting spots have
included the London and the Israel Philharmonic, where since 2002 he has
conducted four performances of MahlerÕs Third Symphony, the Bournemouth
Symphony, Kuala LumpurÕs Malaysian Philharmonic, the Youth Orchestra of the
Americas (in Washington, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo), and the National Youth
Orchestra of New Zealand. This season, he will again conduct the Israel
Philharmonic, the Scottish and Irish National Orchestras, and debut with the
St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Australian Youth Orchestra. Featured in BBC
and 60 Minutes profiles, Zander includes a bonus CD with his recordings which
explain fundamentals of the music to novice listeners,
Zander has spoken on leadership and the
creative process three times as a keynote speaker the World Economic Forum in
Davos, as well as the State of the World Forum in San Francisco, a London
education conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair, a schoolteachersÕ forum in
Singapore, and varied international corporations. In 2002, he received the
ÒCaring Citizen of the Humanities" Award by the International Council for
Caring Communities at the United Nations.
ZanderÕs parents emigrated from Berlin in
1937. His father, Dr. Walter Zander, whose mother died in the Holocaust, was a
lawyer, musician, economist, scholar of Middle Eastern affairs and an ardent
Zionist. In 1944, he was appointed secretary of the British Friends of the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he was Governor from 1972 until his death
in 1993, and also as a Senior Associate Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. In
his 1948 pamphlet, ÒIs This the Way?,Ó he stressed the sacrifice of the
Palestinians. At the 2000 Davis summit, Benjamin Zander had a rare opportunity
to discuss his fatherÕs views when, upon a late arrival for a dinner honoring
Nelson Mandela, he sat with nine Arab leaders. ÒI related my fatherÕs statement
that we were asking the ultimate sacrifice of the Arab people Ð to give up
their land Ð and if we fail to remember this, in every conversation and
dealing, we will be doomed to eternal struggle.Ó
Zander received a card from each one of
them and an invitation to stay at their homes. ÒIt wasnÕt sheer diplomacy,Ó he
said. ÒThey were extraordinarily and genuinely gracious. It was exactly the
point my father was making.
ÒMy fatherÕs pamphlet influenced
intellectuals all over the world, including Gandhi,Ó he added. ÒBut, it failed
to move the politicians or the public. The Israelis respected him but could not
take his advice. The Arabs, convinced of Zionist injustice, were hardly aware
of his efforts.
ÒI personally have a deep-rooted
attachment to the issues in the Middle East,Ó Zander continued. ÒI would do
virtually anything to ameliorate the situation.Ó Zander met with Arafat and
Shimon Peres in 1999 and 2000 at Davos. ÒI met with Arafat and the violinist
Yehudi Menhuin,Ó he recalled. ÒWe spoke about the need for reconciliation, and
he was completely for it.
ÒI think he may be one of the more
misunderstood people,Ó Zander maintained. ÒHe was open and warm, and spoke for
the need for understanding on all sides.Ó
Zander also spoke with Mandela about his
leadership style, where all voices are able to be heard. ÒMandelaÕs genius was
that he didnÕt lead from one position or the other, but from the whole
symphony,Ó he said. ÒI call this ÔsinofoniaÕ.Ó
Zander has a daughter, Jessica, who is the
Business Manager of WGBHÕs The World, and two granddaughters from his first
marriage to Patricia Zander. He has been married to Rosamund Stone Zander since
1981. His stepdaughter, Alexandra Bageris, is a medical resident at BU; his
stepson Evan is a personal trainer in the Cambridge area.
With Rosamund, a leading psychotherapist,
he co-authored a best-selling book on leadership and creativity, ÒThe Art of
Possibility,Ó which has been translated into 12 languages. In 2000, at a dinner
where Elie Weisel also spoke, he talked with Shimon Peres about the bookÕs
principles of reconciliation, and methods by which to get past animosity and
retribution. ÒPeres was very open to ÔThe Art of Possiblity,ÕÓ he said.
For more information, email
info@benjaminzander.com or visit www.benjaminzander.com.
For more information on the upcoming Mahler season, please visit
www.Mahlerjourney.com; for information on the Boston Philharmonic, please visit
www.bostonphil.org.