A visionary conductor who has dedicated his career to the discovery of rare repertoire, Leon Botstein is Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra, founder and Music Director of The Orchestra Now, Artistic Director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and Conductor Laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Leon has appeared at the Stars of the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg as a guest conductor for three consecutive summers, leading the orchestra and chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre in performances of Zemlinsky’s opera Der Zwerg, the Russian premiere of Bernstein’s Candide, and Taneyev’s opera Oresteia.

His recent appointment as Artistic Director of Campus Grafenegg in Austria makes Leon Botstein one of the very few Americans in positions of artistic leadership with high-profile European musical institutions. In the inaugural 2018 season, his narrative-driven Grafenegg programmes attracted star collaborators, including Thomas Hampson and Dennis Russell Davies.

Leon Botstein’s unique approach to programming gives audiences the opportunity to encounter neglected works, which he performs alongside standard repertoire. Leon is frequently invited as a guest conductor by like-minded, dynamic ensembles seeking to broaden the musical horizons of their players and listeners. Over 25,000 people tuned into the Facebook stream of Leon Botstein’s Sight & Sound performance with The Orchestra Now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which explored the nexus between music and visual arts.

Leon has recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. His recording of Gavriil Popov’s first symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award. Leon is Editor of The Musical Quarterly and has written many articles and books.

For his contributions to music, Leon has received membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Harvard University’s Centennial Medal, and the Austrian Cross of Honour. Distinctions include The Bruckner Society’s Julio Kilenyi Medal of Honour for his interpretations of Bruckner’s music, and the Leonard Bernstein Award for the Elevation of Music in Society. In 2011 he was inducted into the American Philosophical Society.

Leon Botstein combines his conducting career with his work as the President of Bard College, a position he has held since 1975. He has initiated the creation of the first liberal education department in Russia—the Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg State University.