The World

Twenty years ago, Leon Botstein started the annual Bard Music Festival. This year the festival focuses on the Viennese modernist Alban Berg. Botstein pitches Berg’s difficult, dissonant work to audiences who normally can’t stand 20th-century music. He tells Kurt that music suffers from “masterpiece syndrome”, which keeps attention off of lesser-known artists ? and prevents audiences from understanding them.

Will you support The World today?

The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!