Benjamin Zander on music

For classical musicians in Boston, it’s been a difficult year. When Symphony Hall shut down March 12 due to COVID-19, not only were musicians out of work, they couldn’t do what they love best: bringing people together in celebration of music. The silence was deafening.

Luckily for them, into this silence stepped Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander. Unwilling to accept there would be no live music in the region until next summer, he called his associate principal cellist Velléda Miragias to see if she’d be willing to play some music. For free. In his driveway. She agreed, and on a Sunday in May she played solo Bach Suites in his driveway for about one hour. From that first impromptu moment was born the series “Safe and Sound,” weekly concerts outside his Brattle Street home.

“I’m fortunate to have a very large driveway,” Zander quipped.

Since then, players from the Boston Philharmonic have put on 14 concerts in total, drawing people from all over the neighborhood, with audiences as large as 90 people. To many, that first concert was the most impactful.

We sit down with Mr. Zander to learn about this journey and what’s important to him.