Conductor Leon Botstein has a message for democracy

Ever since taking office, Donald Trump and his administration have been constantly berating Europeans. But now a representative of a different American is coming to Germany: The Orchestra NOW (TŌN), a graduate program of Bard College, in the state of New York. Directed by Leon Botstein, the ensemble will present works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Max Bruch. It is also delivering a clear message: Culture and music are the true pillars of the transatlantic relationship.

TŌN features top musicians, some of whom already have positions in other professional US orchestras Image: David DeNee

A historically important location

The trip to Germany is the orchestra's first overseas trip, and the high point will be a concert on May 8 commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The performance, entitled "Grant Us Peace," will take place in the Nuremberg Congress Hall — part of a monumental complex built by the Nazis as the site of their party rallies.

The Congress Hall (seen here during ongoing renovations) was used by the Nazis for political gatheringsImage: Ardan Fuessmann/IMAGO

The concert's location holds a lot of meaning for the orchestra's founder and conductor, Leon Botstein, born in 1946 in Zurich, Switzerland, to Jewish Polish parents.

"It reminds us that it is possible to reckon with the past without erasing it," he told DW. TŌN's performance in this place sends a strong message, Botstein explained, especially because the orchestra is performing works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, whose music was banned by the Nazis.

Botstein believes that it has rarely ever been more important to remember that the Nazis led "a morally and ethically criminal regime" even as they "were a legal German government at the time the Congress Hall was built." One must never stop warning "how easy it is to make radical evil acceptable and legal," he said.

Bard: A liberal arts university with a freethinking reputation

Botstein has been president of Bard College since 1975 and is one of the institution's driving figures — as a scholar, professor, festival director and as the founder of TŌN.

Bard College, a liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, a roughly two-hour drive north of New York City, was founded in 1860 by husband-and-wife John and Margaret Bard. Since its earliest days it has had a reputation as a center of liberal thinking. Many musicians, writers, artists, politicians and journalists studied there. Hannah Arendt was one of many European intellectuals who was a professor at Bard; she is buried in the college cemetery. Famed US-Canadian architect Frank Gehry admired the school and designed its new concert hall, "Fisher Center at Bard," which serves as the home of TŌN.

The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, designed by Frank Gehry, opened in 2003Image: Nancy Kenn/Dreamstime/IMAGO

The young musicians who perform in TŌN are students in a three-year training program at Bard College. Most have already finished their conservatory training, and some even have positions in leading American orchestras. At Bard they receive wide-ranging education that covers not only musical subjects but also disciplines like philosophy and the social sciences. The Germany trip is another component of their training.

'A dangerous time for all of us'

Unlike other privately run universities Harvard and Columbia, Bard College has yet to be directly impacted by the mood and whims of the administration in Washington. Botstein is nonetheless alarmed.

"It's a dangerous time for all of us, for democracy around the world and at home, because this government is against science and truth," he says. " If you can no longer agree on what is a lie and what is the truth, then you'll eventually find yourself in a situation where you can't talk to each other anymore."

Botstein believes the Trump administration is acting increasingly autocratic and endangering the separation of powers — a foundational principle of democracy. "Misusing power leads to fear, and fear leads to self-censorship," Botstein said. "People start to limit their own freedom."

Botstein is a driving force at Bard College; above, he speaks at the university's second annual conference of the US-China Music InstituteImage: Photoshot/picture alliance

Democracy: An ongoing project

According to Botstein, American intellectual elites — himself included — bear at least partial responsibility for current developments. "We were too lazy somehow to truly recognize the danger and really start a conversation with our fellow citizens," he said, adding that this must now happen.

Botstein sees Europe, and particularly Germany, as an important ally in the fight for global democracy: "Germany has a lot of resources and is a central figure in things like the fight for democracy and freedom in Ukraine and resistance against [Russia's] Putin, [Hungary's] Orban and [Turkey's] Erdogan." 

But it's the fight for the hearts and minds of one's own citizens that will prove decisive. "You have to understand that authoritarian rulers are always attractive for some reason. In contrast, democracy is difficult. Freedom requires constant work."

And music plays a key role in this work, according to Botstein. Works by Beethoven, Bach, Bruckner or Mendelssohn are not entertainment, he explains, but "instruction manuals for free thinking."

This article has been translated from German.