Leeds Metropolitan University
Summer Graduation 2006
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Winter Graduation 2006 |
Benjamin Zander
Key musical figure and inspirational business speaker Benjamin Zander has received an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts from Leeds Met during Summer Graduation 2006.
Benjamin Zander is the Conductor with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and co-author, with his wife Rosamund, of the best selling book ‘ The Art of Possibility’.
Addressing the graduands Benjamin Zander said, “I’m most grateful for this honour, my first doctorate. There is an artist in each one of us and perhaps now more than ever the artists in all of us has the chance to light the world.”
His advice for graduands was, “Be a good leader…if the eyes of the people you are leading are not shining you need to ask questions. My definition of success is the number of shining eyes around you.
“Don’t be too affected by negative opinions of you – only listen to the good opinions.
“Be willing to take risks. Find ways around the barriers.”
Benjamin Zander started his early musical training, in his native England , with cello and composition lessons under the guidance of his father. When he was nine, Benjamin Britten, took an interest in his development and invited the family to spend three summers in Aldeburgh, Suffolk where he lived. This led to a long association with Britten and lessons in theory and composition from Britten’s close associate Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav Holst.
He began studying the cello at the age of ten and became the youngest member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of twelve. At the age of thirteen he went as a boarder to Uppingham School as a music scholar and then onto St Paul ’s School, London to continue his cello studies with Herbert Withers. At the age of fifteen Benjamin became a scholar of the great Spanish cello virtuoso Gaspar Cassadό who became his teacher and mentor for the next five years. He travelled extensively with Cassasdό performing recitals and chamber music. In 1964 he completed a degree at London University , winning the University College Essay Prize, and a Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship for postgraduate work at Harvard. Boston has been his home ever since.
In 1967 he joined the Faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he teaches the Interpretation class, conducts the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly conducts the conservatory orchestras. He is Artistic Director of a joint programme between NEC and Walnut Hill, a boarding high school for the Performing Arts in Natick , Massachusetts . In 1979 he became the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and together they have performed an extensive repertoire, with an emphasis on late Romantic and Early Twentieth Century composers, especially the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
Benjamin Zander’s extensive speaking career has taken him around the world and he has appeared four times as a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was presented with the Crystal award for outstanding contributions in the Arts and international relations. In 2002 he was awarded the Caring Citizen of the Humanities award by the International Council for Caring Communities at the United Nations.
HONORARY AWARDS 2006
Saturday 22nd July
Friday 21st July
Thursday 20th July
Wednesday 19th July