Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein is music director and principal conductor
of the American Symphony Orchestra, the music director of The Orchestra
Now, a brand new training orchestra, and is artistic co-director of the
acclaimed SummerScape and Bard Music festivals. Botstein is also
conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served
as music director from 2003–11. He has been president of Bard College in
New York since 1975. Mr. Botstein leads an active schedule as a guest
conductor all over the world, and can be heard on numerous recordings
with the London Symphony (including their Grammy-nominated recording of
Popov’s First Symphony), the London Philharmonic, NDR-Hamburg, and the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Many of his live performances with the
American Symphony Orchestra are available online, where they have
cumulatively sold more than a quarter of a million downloads. Upcoming
engagements include the Royal Philharmonic, Wiesbaden, UNAM Mexico, and
the Simon Bolivar Orchestra. Recently he conducted the Russian National
Orchestra, the Taipei Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl, and the Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas in Venezuela and
Japan, the first non-Venezuelan conductor invited by El Sistema to
conduct on a tour. Highly regarded as a music historian, Mr. Botstein’s
most recent book is Von Beethoven zu Berg: Das Gedächtnis der Moderne (2013). He is the editor of The Musical Quarterly and the author of numerous articles and books. He is currently working on a sequel to Jefferson’s Children,
about the American education system. For his contributions to music he
has received the award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and
Harvard University’s prestigious Centennial Award, as well as the Cross
of Honor, First Class from the government of Austria. Other recent
awards include the 2015 Deborah W. Meier Award for Heroes in Education
from The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, Caroline P. and
Charles W. Ireland Prize, the highest award given by the University of
Alabama; the Bruckner Society’s Julio Kilenyi Medal of Honor for his
interpretations of that composer’s music; the Leonard Bernstein Award
for the Elevation of Music in Society; and Carnegie Foundation’s
Academic Leadership Award. In 2011 he was inducted into the American
Philosophical Society.