Lightning Conductor
Posted: 2003-02-05 12:04:14
Don't be surprised if you are greeted at the door by Benjamin Zander on the evening of the Philharmonia's forthcoming performance of Mahler Three at the Royal Festival Hall. This is not a gimmick - Zander genuinely wants you to experience something life-changing when he conducts the performance, and is keen to welcome you himself.
'One of the things I find myself doing in Boston with my own orchestra is greeting people when they come into the hall,' he says. 'I'm just about to take them on an amazing journey so I should be there to welcome them. The music profession is very careless; the conductor is like the priest on Sunday - we are the holders of the sacred flame. We fall into the trap of becoming removed
and aloof - that's exactly the opposite of what we should do.
This view is a good illustration of why Zander is regarded as no ordinary conductor. For him, conducting is just one part of a career that is committed, quite simply, to musical evangelism. It's his belief that music has the power to transform lives. This passion has resulted in him enjoying a cult-like following which has not just been confined to the music world - his visionary beliefs have made him sought after by businesses and other organizations as a lecturer, using music as a metaphor for leadership.
'Everything I do is education and teaching. We forget that music can open doors in people's lives,' he says. 'Something as simple as a Mozart sonata can transform a person's life. Everyone comes into the world singing, speaking and dancing; there is no such thing as an unmusical person. I think that everyone on this planet has the ability to be moved by music; I also believe that everyone loves classical music, they sometimes just don't know it.'
English born but now based in the US, Zander has committed most of his conducting career to the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he has been principal conductor since its foundation in 1978. Success on the concert platform is particularly ripe at the moment with the latest chapter in his Mahler symphonic cycle - Mahler Three was performed in December in Boston and will be coming to London with the Philharmonia, as have all Zander's Mahler symphonies. This gigantic journey through the symphonies has so far included Four, Five and Nine. The concerts are sell-outs and the critics rave, which is down to his acumen as a conductor as much as to his relationship with the audiences. He believes that they need more than just a fabulous performance - he wants to make them the centre of the experience and so gives rousing pre-concert talks which have become somewhat of a trade-mark event. He has now developed the pre-concert talk into a "Discover" concert where he actually speaks during the concert to audiences who don't usually come to symphonic concerts.
People in Boston associate me with the person who makes people excited about music. Some classical music and concert halls can seem very intimidating to those who haven't experienced them. The first movement of Mahler Three is gigantic and there are six movements! That's intimidating to begin with for anyone who doesn't know the work. Here in Boston, I explained it in simple terms of nature and life and death, the birth of summer - I got the players to play notes or passages to the audience and suddenly from being a morass of information, things begin to make sense for them. The music speaks to everyone. The end of the piece is like an anthem; it is the most uplifting experience. Just imagine if someone had had the idea of playing that in the wake of September 11, instead of all the patriotic nonsense. It's one of the most powerful pieces of creation.
'There are always lots of children at these events - when we did Mahler Five, I offered $5 to the child who could hear the cymbal crash at the end. Twenty children came to me afterwards. That is a fantastic sign, since it proves that they were listening through the whole piece.
I am not a great scholar - there are other people who can do that - this is the level I want people to listen at: I want them to listen more.'
His Boston concerts also feature a money-back guarantee for audience members who have not had a 'transcendent experience' (he carries the cash on him afterwards) and he insists that returned tickets are not re-sold for profit - instead he gives them away and has passed on a number to Rosie's Place, a local hostel for the homeless.
Sue Fox is a regular columnist for the Sunday Times magazine and Classic FM. She has followed his career with interest and first came in contact with him eight years ago at a masterclass in Dulwich. Since then, she has interviewed him, has produced a documentary about him that has been screened round the world and regularly flies across the Atlantic to catch his concerts with the BPO, including the recent Mahler Three. 'The concert was extraordinary - he can get things out of that orchestra that no one can manage; they will go the extra mile for him,' she says.
'What makes him special is that he makes music more accessible. In the concerts, he takes the audience on a journey through the music - no one should go to the concerts without attending his talk
beforehand, it's a vital part of the whole process. He is a phenomenal teacher - everything he does is a lesson and he is so enthusiastic, you can't help being drawn in.'
His courtship with the business world has come about primarily because of this uncompromising passion in his beliefs and that 'no' is not an option. In the American 'can-do' culture, this is a very attractive quality. Demand has come from organizations as diverse as NASA, Pizza Hut (he once spoke to 4,000 managers in a single session in Arizona), BT and NatWest, and he has addressed leaders of the world nation at the World Economic Forum.
In 1999 he was invited to a dinner hosted by Arthur Andersen which, at the time, was involved in a government-run programme to make improvements in a group of schools that were deemed 'failing'. Zander was brought on board to go to Eastlea School in the Docklands. He brought with him the entire Philharmonia to the school to introduce the students to classical music and make them believe in their own creativity through music. His website shows many of the quotes that resulted from that extraordinary project: Karl, aged 14, writes: 'He made me realize that education was so important to everyone, not just the intelligent, it's as simple as that!'
The website is an important tool in Zander's work - he replies to every single correspondent on the site, whether it's a comment, a search for advice or simply an anecdote. 'I try to make the website a vibrating, living thing,' he says. 'There was a business man who wrote to me on the website - he felt he had made a huge mistake in his life and should become a conductor. We talked about what he could do. That was about a year and a half ago - the outcome was that he did a conducting course and I just got an email an hour ago with a report on his first professional concert.'
Zander is relishing another trip to London to conduct the Philharmonia - 'There's no better orchestra than the Philharmonia in full flight. There's no point in me jumping up and down about classical music and my views unless the performance stirs the soul at every moment and that is what this orchestra is capable of.'
Asked about the state of music in Britain, especially in education, Zander is reluctant to be drawn. He will not comment on the present British government's policy on music provision in schools, other than to say that he once met Estelle Morris whom he admired and who he thought was 'doing a great job' (this was when he addressed a government-led conference of 700 head teachers on the necessity of music in education in 1999). He does however admit that he is frustrated that music is not taken seriously enough in schools. It is the only time in the interview that he seems at all wistful. Like any visionary, he must feel a frustration that the world is a huge place and one person can only do so much. Having said that, Zander is certainly a one-off and if anyone can change the world through music, he can.
Benjamin Zander conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, with mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, the women of the Philharmonia Chorus and Tiffin Boys Choir in Mahler's Symphony No 3 at the Royal Festival Hall on 22 January. His pre-concert talk is at 6pm in the auditorium, box office 020 7960 4201 www.benjaminzander.com
