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President, Bard College & Music Director, American Symphony Orchestra
President, Bard College & Music Director, American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein is a conductor and academic known for his innovative programs and interest in contemporary and neglected repertory. He was a violin student of Roman Totenberg and studied conducting with James Yannatos, Richard Wernick, and Harold Farberman. He pursued dual careers in academics and music and became a teaching fellow in general education at Harvard University from 1968 to 1969, and then a lecturer in the department of history at Boston University in 1969. Meanwhile, he began conducting and from 1973 to 1975, and he was the principal conductor of the White Mountain Music and Arts Festival. In 1975, he became president of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, a position he still holds today.
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59mins
It is one of the most debated subjects of all time, and President Botstein of Bard College steps boldly into the fray: What is art?
2mins
In this segment from his Floating University lecture, Leon Botstein explores what makes an artist good. “Eventually you can look at your own photograph that you took of your friend […]
3mins
For half of American high school students, college should start when they are 16 years old.
8mins
Leon Botstein became the president of Bard at 23, when the college was in a situation of “complete desperation.”
4mins
No, says the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra conductor; the most music can offer is common ground.
4mins
Engaging the next generation will be like re-introducing a child to vegetables they hated when they were children.
4mins
Leon Botstein explains why his “Classics Declassified” is akin to discovering a new city by wandering around.
14mins
Putting a piece of music on the stage is always about intention of the interpreter. It’s never really an honest historical representation of what the composer intended.
2mins
The conductor was inspired to study music after his mother, a pianist, tragically lost her hearing.
41mins
A conversation with the President of Bard College and the Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.