27 Facts About Leon Botstein

The son of Polish-Jewish physicians, Botstein immigrated to New York City at the age of two.

Leon Botstein studied violin with Roman Totenberg and, during the summers, studied with faculty from the National Conservatory in Mexico City.

In 1963, at age 16, Leon Botstein graduated from the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan.

Leon Botstein graduated from the University of Chicago in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in history.

In 1967, after studying at Tanglewood, Leon Botstein attended Harvard University, where he studied history under David Landes, writing on musical life of Vienna in the 19th and early 20th centuries, earning an MA in 1968.

In 1969, while 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, Leon Botstein became the youngest college president in history after being appointed president of the now-defunct Franconia College in New Hampshire.

Leon Botstein was offered the position after meeting his future father-in-law, Oliver Lundquist, who was on the board of trustees.

In 1975, Leon Botstein left Franconia to become the president of Bard College, a position he still holds.

Leon Botstein oversaw significant curricular changes, and, under his leadership, Bard saw record gains in enrollment, campus growth, endowment, institutional reach, and high-profile faculty.

Leon 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 DC, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Hudson.

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 campus.

In 2003, following the success of the Bard Music Festival, Leon Botstein developed Bard SummerScape, a festival of opera, theater, film, and music, where, since its founding, he has revived 13 rare operas in full staging.

Later that year, Leon Botstein became the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Leon Botstein established programs with Al Quds University, American University of Central Asia, and Central European University, as well as helping found Bard College Berlin and Smolny College, Russia's first and foremost liberal arts institution.

At the time, Leon Botstein was on the charity's advisory board.

In 2018, Leon Botstein was appointed artistic director of Campus Grafenegg in Austria, where he collaborated with Thomas Hampson and Dennis Russell Davies.

In 2019, Leon Botstein appeared in the documentary College Behind Bars, a four-part television series about the Bard Prison Initiative, a degree program offered to inmates in New York prisons.

Leon Botstein is renowned for reviving and promoting neglected repertoire and composers.

Leon Botstein is known for the series "Classics Declassified", in which he lectures, conducts, and takes questions from the audience.

Under the provocative guidance of the conductor-scholar Leon Botstein, it has long been one of the most intellectually stimulating of all American summer festivals and frequently is one of the most musically satisfying.

Leon Botstein's scholarship focuses on the intersection of music, culture, and politics since the early 19th century.

Leon Botstein has written books including Judentum und Modernitaet and Von Beethoven zu Berg: Das Gedachtnis der Moderne and The History of Listening: How Music Creates Meaning.

Leon Botstein has been editor of The Musical Quarterly since 1993 and a frequent contributor to periodicals focusing on music and history.

Leon Botstein writes frequently on primary and secondary education and universities: in addition to the book Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, he is the author of numerous articles on education in the United States.

Leon Botstein is the brother of biologist David Leon Botstein and pediatric cardiologist Eva Griepp.

Leon Botstein is the husband of art historian Barbara Haskell.