Benjamin Rous begins his tenure as Assistant Conductor of The Phoenix Symphony during the 2008-09 season. 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. Benjamin Rous enjoys a full musical life as conductor, violinist, and composer. 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.