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Leon Botstein
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== Biography == Botstein was born in [[Zürich]], [[Switzerland]], in 1946.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last1=Abel|first1=Olivia|title=Interview with Leon Botstein: 35 Years (and Counting) as President of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY|date=July 6, 2011|url=https://hvmag.com/archive/interview-with-leon-botstein-35-years-and-counting-as-president-of-bard-college-annandale-on-hudson-ny/|access-date=2021-02-22}}</ref> The son of Polish-Jewish physicians, [[immigration to the United States|Botstein immigrated]] to [[New York City]] at the age of two. He studied violin with [[Roman Totenberg]] and, during the summers, studied with faculty from the [[Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico)|National Conservatory in Mexico City]].<ref name="auto"/> In 1963, at age 16, Botstein graduated from the [[The High School of Music and Art|High School of Music and Art]] in [[Manhattan]]. He graduated from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1967 with a [[bachelor's degree]] in history. While an undergraduate, he was concertmaster and assistant conductor of the university orchestra and founded its chamber orchestra.<ref name="auto8">{{cite web|last1=Elliott|first1=Susan|title=Orchestrating a career: College president, conductor, and writer: for Leon Botstein, work is a three-part harmony.|url=https://magazine.uchicago.edu/0212/alumni/vitae.html|website=University of Chicago Magazine|access-date=2021-02-22}}</ref> His music teachers in college included composer [[Richard Wernick]] and the musicologists H. Colin Slim and [[Howard Mayer Brown]]. In 1967, after studying at [[Boston University Tanglewood Institute|Tanglewood]], 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. At Harvard, he was the assistant conductor of the [[Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra]] and conductor of the Doctors' Orchestra of Boston.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite magazine|last=Gregory|first=Alice|date=2014-09-22|title=The Duke of Bard|magazine=The New Yorker|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/pictures-institution|access-date=2017-12-25|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> 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.<ref name="auto8"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=BIOGRAPHY|url=https://www.leonbotstein.com/biography|access-date=2020-10-12|website=LEON BOTSTEIN|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1970, at age 23, Botstein became the youngest college president in history after being appointed president of the now-defunct [[Franconia College]] in New Hampshire. He was offered the position after meeting his future father-in-law, [[Oliver Lincoln Lundquist|Oliver Lundquist]], who was on the board of trustees.<ref name=":0" />
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