Leon Botstein (born December 14, 1946, in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss-American conductor, educator, and scholar serving as the President of Bard College.
Biography
1946–1975: Early life, education, and career
Botstein was born in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1946. The son of Polish-Jewish physicians, Botstein immigrated to New York City at the age of two. Interested in music from an early age, he studied violin with Roman Totenberg and, during the summers, studied with faculty from the National Conservatory in Mexico City. At the age of sixteen, Botstein graduated from the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1967, where he graduated with a degree in history. While an undergraduate, he was concertmaster and assistant conductor of the University orchestra and founded University of Chicago’s chamber orchestra. His music teachers at University of Chicago included composer Richard Wernick and the musicologists H. Colin Slim and Howard Mayer Brown. In 1967, after studying at Tanglewood, Botstein then went to Harvard University, where he studied history under David Landes, writing on musical life of Vienna in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At Harvard University, he was the assistant conductor of the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra and conductor of the Doctors’ Orchestra of Boston. In 1969, while still a graduate student, Botstein was awarded a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and began work for New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay’s administration as special assistant to the president of the Board of Education of the City of New York. In 1970, at age 23, Botstein became the youngest college president in history after his appointment as president of the now-defunct Franconia College in New Hampshire. He was offered the position after meeting his future father-in-law, Oliver Lundquist, who was on the board of trustees. While there Botstein founded the White Mountain Music Festival, an offshoot of which is still operating today.
1975–1990: Developing Bard and return to music
In 1975, Botstein left Franconia to become the president of Bard College, a position he still holds. He oversaw significant curricular changes, and, under his leadership, Bard saw record gains in enrollment, campus growth, endowment, institutional reach, and high-profile faculty. Botstein directed the launch of the Levy Economics Institute, a public-policy research center, as well as graduate programs in the fine arts, decorative arts, environmental policy, and curatorial studies; soon thereafter, he helped acquire Bard College at Simon's Rock and later founded Bard High School Early College, which operates in seven cities: Newark, New York City, Cleveland, Washington D.C., Baltimore, New Orleans, and Hudson.
In the wake of the death of his second child, an 8-year-old daughter, Botstein decided to return to the musical career he had begun at University of Chicago. In 1985, he completed his Ph.D. in music history at Harvard and began retraining as a conductor with Harold Farberman, eventually leading the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
1990–present: Festivals, international programs, and conducting
In 1990, Botstein established the Bard Music Festival, whose success led to the development of the critically acclaimed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, a multi-functional facility designed by Frank Gehry on the Bard College campus. In 1992, in addition to being named editor of the esteemed The Musical Quarterly, he was appointed the director of the American Symphony Orchestra, a position he still holds. Under Botstein’s directorship, the orchestra has developed a reputation for rescuing lesser-known works from obscurity. In 1999, he helped establish Bard’s acclaimed Prison Initiative, which established college-in-prison programs across the country and is now active in nine states.