Phoenix Symphony Names Benjamin Rous Assistant Conductor

Accomplished Conductor Will Lead Education Initiatives and Family Concerts

PHOENIX - Benjamin Rous will join The Phoenix Symphony as Assistant Conductor beginning with the 2008-09 Season. Appointed by a search committee comprised of members of the orchestra, staff and Music Director Michael Christie, Mr. Rous will conduct education ensembles for classroom concerts and two subscription Family concerts. On March 7, he will lead "The Magic Horn" with the Magic Circle Mime Company and on April 18 will conduct "I Want to Be a Bach Star!". Community concerts led by Mr. Rous will include classroom performances by the Woodwind Ensemble and the Brass and Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Connections programs presented in partnership with the Maricopa Community Colleges, and special event concerts such as the annual Target Music in the Park.

"We are thrilled to have Mr. Rous join our organization as our new Assistant Conductor. He will work closely with our Education Department and with our Music Director Michael Christie," says Maryellen Gleason, Symphony President and CEO. "He brings many exciting attributes to the organization, and we look forward to seeing him grow with The Phoenix Symphony."

Mr. Rous comments, "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to help bring music to the Valley. The Phoenix Symphony is enjoying a period of remarkable artistic growth, and I'm proud to be joining the conducting staff during this exciting time."

Mr. Rous studied at the University of Michigan with Kenneth Kiesler, and has since served as assistant conductor with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, as well as a preparation conductor at the Manhattan School of Music. He has worked with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in occasional assistant conducting roles, and in 2007 appeared in New York's Bargemusic Series with the Chelsea Symphony. In the summer of 2006 he was selected as an Academy Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival, where he worked under the guidance of David Zinman and George Manahan, and the next summer made appearances with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario, and with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris in Vendome, France.

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More about Benjamin Rous: Benjamin Rous enjoys a full musical life as conductor, violinist, and composer. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and works as a preparation conductor at Manhattan School of Music. He has also worked with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, where he has acted as cover conductor, conducted the Youth Orchestra, and was invited to perform with symphony musicians on the Pulitzer Concert Series. While studying composition at Harvard, Mr. Rous became music director of Harvard's Bach Society Orchestra during his senior year, and subsequently studied conducting with Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan. As a violinist, he recently performed in The Mahler Chamber Orchestra and in Bologna's Orchestra Mozart, under the batons of Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding. Mr. Rous's compositions have been performed by the Portland Youth Symphony, the New England Conservatory Preparatory String Orchestra and the Fromm Players at Harvard.

About The Phoenix Symphony: Celebrating its 60th Anniversary Season, The Phoenix Symphony has been proudly serving the citizens of the Phoenix metropolitan area and Arizona since 1947. What began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year (in a city of fewer than 100,000 people) today serves more than 300,000 people annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the greater Phoenix area and beyond.

Under the artistic leadership of Michael Christie as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director and administrative leadership of President Maryellen H. Gleason, the orchestra is overseen by the non-profit Phoenix Symphony Association under Board Chairman Ed Wolf.

The 76-member Phoenix Symphony presents an annual season from September through the beginning of June, featuring full-length classical and pops concerts at Sym­phony Hall in downtown Phoenix, in Scottsdale, in Prescott, and throughout central Arizona. The Symphony performs for more than 50,000 students and children, helping to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education and youth-engagement programs.