Are conductors born or made? I would say both. Conducting is a strange activity: you can have wide musical knowledge, perfect pitch, a photographic memory, a flawless baton technique, skill on several instruments, a doctorate … but still be unable to “make it happen.” Other qualities are needed. Players and audiences spot them at once, without being able to describe them. The cellist Robert Ripley wrote: “The better a conductor is, the less you know why.” The qualities can't be taught, you certainly can't get them from a textbook, and they can't be faked by copying a great conductor; you have to be born with them. But there's also the practical side: however much talent you've been given, there's a lot to learn. All of the best conductors have worked hard at their craft, developing their own individual ways of making music. They all conduct differently, so there can't be only one “right” way.