Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander, the renowned conductor who was let go from the New England Conservatory after school officials learned that he hired a convicted sex offender to film its youth orchestra, will lead a new youth ensemble at the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. "I am very excited to have an opportunity to continue my life work of teaching talented young musicians in the area," Zander said Thursday night by phone. "We're going to have a wonderful time. " The 73-year-old Zander is a cofounder of the Boston Philharmonic, and currently serves as its conductor and music director.

Benjamin Zander, the renowned conductor who was let go from the New England Conservatory after school officials learned that he hired a convicted sex offender to film its youth orchestra, will lead a new youth ensemble at the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. "I am very excited to have an opportunity to continue my life work of teaching talented young musicians in the area," Zander said Thursday night by phone. "We're going to have a wonderful time. " The 73-year-old Zander is a cofounder of the Boston Philharmonic, and currently serves as its conductor and music director.

Below is a letter from Benjamin Zander to the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Last week, the New England Conservatory ended the employment of Zander, 72, a marquee faculty member for more than 45 years and longtime conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He is one of numerous faculty members who used the videographer Peter E. Benjamin's services, a convicted sex offender who never had a background check. My beloved students of YPO, You now have heard of the terribly sad news that my life at NEC has been terminated.

"Here Nature roars," Gustav Mahler wrote of the beginning of his Seventh Symphony, in which the tenor horn - a band instrument rarely seen in classical orchestras - makes a mighty, and mighty strange, sound. The Seventh has been nicknamed "The Song of the Night," but the first movement, at least, is more like "Where the Wild Things Are. " This is one of Mahler's least-performed symphonies (only the Eighth, which calls for hundreds of voices, turns up less often), and one of his least-understood works, but Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra have done well by it in...

The New England Conservatory and world-renowned conductor Benjamin Zander have parted ways following the discovery by school officials that Zander knowingly hired a registered sex offender to videotape performances by the school's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra during concerts, rehearsals, and classes over the past decade, and perhaps longer. In letters e-mailed yesterday to 6,500 parents of current and former prep school students, conservatory officials said they have never received a complaint about the behavior of the videographer, Peter E. Benjamin, but have taken steps "to ensure that...

IT'S CLEAR to me that New England Conservatory wanted to get rid of Benjamin Zander, and if they hadn't been able to blame him for the hiring of a photographer who 20 years ago had molested young males, served his time in prison, and had not been even suspected of further acts, the conservatory would have found some other reason. Esther Breslau Arlington

CLASSICAL MUSIC BOSTON PHILHARMONIC Benjamin Zander leads Nielsen's "Inextinguishable" Symphony No. 4, alongside Sibelius's "Swan of Tuonela" and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Russian soloist Ilya Kaler. Today at 3 p.m. Sanders Theatre. 617-236-0999, www.bostonphil.org. BRENTANO QUARTET The Brentano performs its ambitious "Fragments" project, pairing music by Schubert, Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich, and others, with modern-day responses by living composers.

The conductor, author, and inspirational speaker sits in the living room of his Brattle Street home, listening to what is being said about him: That he, Benjamin Zander, showed no remorse. That he put children at risk. That New England Conservatory, his professional home for 45 years, had no choice other than to fire him. Zander, usually overflowing with laughter and enthusiasm, wearily runs his hands through his frizzy white hair. He's unhappy with himself and he's unhappy with NEC's leaders, who he feels rushed to judgment.

New England Conservatory says it will not reconsider its decision to dismiss conductor Benjamin Zander, even as Zander's supporters push for his reinstatement. The latest volley came yesterday from a two of Zander's family members. In a 5,175-word letter with detailed footnotes sent to the conservatory's board of trustees, former Harvard University president Neil Rudenstine and the conductor's older brother, Michael, a legal scholar based in London, laid out the case for giving Zander his job back.

Belfast-born conductor Courtney Lewis is the founding music director of the Discovery Ensemble, a youthful and dynamic chamber orchestra that works in Boston schools and also offers a distinctive series of public concerts. Under his baton the Discovery's performances often blend a streamlined precision with a supple musicality. He is also at ease in speaking directly to audiences about the music, a skill that comes in handy these days. Lewis's local ties are substantial - he apprenticed with conductor Benjamin Zander - but his star is also rising on the national scene as...

RE "CONSERVATORY will not rescind Zander firing; Officials rebuff letter from family" (Metro, Feb. 22): I'm struck again by the arrogance of those who believe that some people are entitled to a different set of standards because of their stature. First it was Benjamin Zander himself, who thinks he should be treated more leniently for actions he took that would be good cause for anyone else to be fired - the reckless decision to hire a known sex offender to work with children. Now comes his brother-in-law, Neil Rudenstine, who thinks that because he was once the president of Harvard...

THE FIRING of Benjamin Zander by the New England Conservatory has all the elements of a great opera: a talented, compassionate man offers aid to an outcast, and is punished for his kindness by a sanctimonious mob ( "Conservatory will not rescind Zander firing; Officials rebuff letter from family," Metro, Feb. 22). Zander was fired for hiring Peter Benjamin, a man who had sinned and been punished. Under our laws, however heinous Benjamin's crime, once he was released from prison, he was entitled to another chance.

IT'S CLEAR to me that New England Conservatory wanted to get rid of Benjamin Zander, and if they hadn't been able to blame him for the hiring of a photographer who 20 years ago had molested young males, served his time in prison, and had not been even suspected of further acts, the conservatory would have found some other reason. Esther Breslau Arlington

CAMBRIDGE - At Sanders Theatre on Thursday night, Benjamin Zander made a musically focused, notably apolitical return to the podium of his Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. It was the embattled conductor's first BPO performance since his dismissal last month by New England Conservatory, his main professional home for over four decades. The Boston Philharmonic has of course been this conductor's second home since he founded the orchestra in 1979. In last night's "Discovery Series" concert, Zander seemed keen to keep his two worlds separated, and while he spoke from the podium...

New England Conservatory says it will not reconsider its decision to dismiss conductor Benjamin Zander, even as Zander's supporters push for his reinstatement. The latest volley came yesterday from a two of Zander's family members. In a 5,175-word letter with detailed footnotes sent to the conservatory's board of trustees, former Harvard University president Neil Rudenstine and the conductor's older brother, Michael, a legal scholar based in London, laid out the case for giving Zander his job back.

RE "SOME at conservatory may protest Zander's ouster" (Metro, Feb. 11): The sentiment of some New England Conservatory students who claim that the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra's music "is not truly music" without Benjamin Zander at the helm is symptomatic of a far greater problem in the Boston classical music community. Orchestras and conservatories have a history of placing greater value on the prestige and accolades of the conductor than on the sound and caliber of the ensemble.

YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Benjamin Zander leads the senior orchestra of New England Conservatory’s preparatory division in a performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo’’ Variations with YPO principal cellist Jonah Ellsworth as soloist. The concert kicks off the orchestra’s European tour. 8 p.m., June 3. $12. Jordan Hall. 617-585-1260, www.necmusic.edu CHAMELEON ARTS ENSEMBLE This family concert promises music inspired by “a tropical jungle, the plains of West Africa, the Paris Stage’’ and beyond.

I WAS encouraged and relieved to read the quote from Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the New England Conservatory, concerning the decision to sever ties with Benjamin Zander ( "Response is mixed to Zander departure: N.E. Conservatory defends decision," Metro, Jan. 16). As Schwartzman stated, "There might be some who think that certain people in an organization can be held to a different standard, because of their prominence or because of the number of years they have been affiliated or because of their role or because of the degree to which...

The Facebook message made no bones about how Hikaru Yonezaki, a 16-year-old violinist, felt about the dismissal of Benjamin Zander last month. "Our music is not truly music anymore," wrote Yonezaki, the co-concert mistress of New England Conservatory's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. "We cannot go on under such circumstances. " In a phone interview, Yonezaki confirmed that she has proposed to her colleagues in the 115-member orchestra that they refuse to play until Zander is reinstated.

The conductor, author, and inspirational speaker sits in the living room of his Brattle Street home, listening to what is being said about him: That he, Benjamin Zander, showed no remorse. That he put children at risk. That New England Conservatory, his professional home for 45 years, had no choice other than to fire him. Zander, usually overflowing with laughter and enthusiasm, wearily runs his hands through his frizzy white hair. He's unhappy with himself and he's unhappy with NEC's leaders, who he feels rushed to judgment.