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EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Leon Botstein

Be it a concert that reframes musical war horses or one that gives music, herself, a frame (during the middle of a labor dispute, no less), the American Symphony Orchestra is certainly one of the more daring ensembles you'll hear play Carnegie Hall. Under the baton and brain of Leon Botstein, the ASO takes its founder Leopold Stokowski's avowed intention--namely, "that orchestral music shall remain accessible and affordable for everyone"--and gives it a new charge: Orchestral music should also edify the public at large. But as Botstein duly notes in this exclusive discussion with Classicalite editor-in-chief Logan K. Young, in the sound world of late Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Elliott Carter, intellectual heft never does betray the "immensely musical."
By Logan K. Young