Leon Botstein

President of the College; Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities

Academic Program Affiliation(s): Bard Conservatory of Music, Bard Conservatory of Music: Music Theory and History, German Studies, Historical Studies, Jewish Studies, Music

Biography: Leon Botstein is music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), founder and music director of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), artistic codirector of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), where he served as music director from 2003 to 2011. He has been guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre, Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Taipei Symphony, Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas in Venezuela, among others. Recordings include a Grammy-nominated recording of Gavriil Popov’s First Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra, acclaimed recordings of Paul Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with the ASO, Othmar Schoeck’s Lebendig begraben with TŌN, as well as recordings with the London Philharmonic, NDR Orchestra Hamburg, and JSO, among others. He is editor of The Musical Quarterly and of The Compleat Brahms (Norton); publications include Jefferson’s Children (Doubleday), Judentum und Modernität (Böhlau), and Von Beethoven zu Berg (Zsolnay). Honors include an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, Carnegie Foundation Academic Leadership Award, National Arts Club Gold Medal, Leonard Bernstein Award, Bruckner Society Medal of Honor, Alumni Medal from the University of Chicago, and Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art. In 2011, he was inducted into the American Philosophical Society. President Botstein is also chancellor of the Open Society University Network and trustee emeritus, Central European University (board chair, 2007–22; board member, 1991–22) and Foundation for Jewish Culture.  

BA, University of Chicago; MA, PhD, Harvard University. At Bard since 1975.
Phone: 845-758-7423
Email:
Department: President's Office
Location: Ludlow