New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill lends his virtuosity to Copland’s uniquely American Clarinet Concerto, composed for jazz great Benny Goodman. Innovative conductor Leon Botstein leads this program. Friday - Come at 9:30 AM for complimentary coffee and doughnuts. Saturday - Come at 7 PM to hear directly from the artists in “Musically Speaking,” sponsored by Uniland Development.

Leon Botstein, conductor
Anthony McGill, clarinet
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished”
COPLAND Clarinet Concerto
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2

About Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein has been music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is also music director of The Orchestra Now, an innovative training orchestra composed of top musicians from around the world. He is co-artistic director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, which take place at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where he has been president since 1975. He is also conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director from 2003–11. In 2018, he will assume artistic directorship of the Grafenegg Academy in Austria.

Mr. Botstein is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Compleat Brahms (Norton), Jefferson’s Children (Doubleday), Judentum und Modernität (Bölau) and Von Beethoven zu Berg (Zsolnay). He is also the editor of The Musical Quarterly. For his contributions to music he has received the award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Harvard University’s prestigious Centennial Award, as well as the Cross of Honor, First Class from the government of Austria. Other recent awards include the Bruckner Society’s Julio Kilenyi Medal of Honor for his interpretations of that composer’s music; and the Leonard Bernstein Award for the Elevation of Music in Society. In 2011 he was inducted into the American Philosophical Society.

About Anthony McGill

Considered among the top solo, chamber and orchestral musicians today, Anthony McGill is  principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, having previously been principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and associate principal of the Cincinnati Symphony.

Performances throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South Africa in recital, chamber music and as soloist with orchestra consistently receive rave reviews. He has collaborated with Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsiko Uchida and Lang Lang, and in January of 2009 performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Gabriela Montero at President Obama’s inauguration.

As an educator, McGill is on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music and Bard College Conservatory.

A native of Chicago, McGill attended The Curtis Institute of Music and is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as the first Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and is the 2015-16 WQXR Artist-in-Residence.