Benjamin Zander (born 9 March 1939 in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England) is an English conductor, who is currently the musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Biography Benjamin Zander was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England. His parents, Walter and Margarete (Gretl) Zander, had emigrated from Berlin in 1937 to escape the Nazis, and raised their four children: Michael, Luke, Angelica, and Benjamin. At home, his father would regularly sing and play piano after work. Benjamin Zander started to compose music at the age of nine. Several of his compositions came to the attention of composer Benjamin Britten, who invited the Zander family to spend three summers in Aldeburgh, England, the beautiful seaside town in Suffolk where he lived. Benjamin Zander took lessons with Benjamin Britten and became a student of theory of Britten's amanuensis and assistant, Imogen Holst. Early life Zander's main instrument was the cello. He began studying at the age of 10 and became the youngest member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of 12. He went as a boarder at Uppingham School, as a music scholar at the age of 13 and thence attended St Paul's School, London so he could continue his cello studies with Herbert Withers. At the age of 15, Zander became a student of the Spanish cello virtuoso Gaspar Cassadó and moved to Florence and Siena, Italy for the next three years. He completed his cello studies at the State Conservatoire in Cologne, Germany where he served as an assistant to Cassadó. After living abroad for five years, Zander returned to England, completed his A levels and studied at University College London for a degree in English Literature, winning the University-wide English Literature Essay Prize. During his period of study at University, he performed regularly as a cellist, giving recitals and chamber music concerts with the King-Zander-Arieli Trio and taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School for gifted children. In 1965, he won a Harkness International Fellowship and travelled to the United States for graduate work at Brandeis University, Harvard University and with Leonard Shure and Ernst Oster in New York. New England Conservatory In 1967, Zander joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and remained on the faculty until 2012. In July 2012, the New England Conservatory and Preparatory School conferred on him the title of Faculty Emeritus,