Author archive for leonard slatkin

  • DECEMBER 2017

    What a month! November may be the time to give thanks but, at least this year, it was also the time to visit some old friends.

    It all started in Washington with the NSO. I had not been back to my old orchestra for several years. There are many fresh faces but still a majority of musicians whom I hired over my twelve-year tenure. Most everyone seems to be doing very well, and I actually remembered most of their names. A few members have passed away, and some others have retired, but by the time the first rehearsal ended, we all seemed to be comfortable with each other.

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  • Grammy Nomination for Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

    November 28, 2017

    Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra have been nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Best Orchestral Performance category for the recording of Copland: Symphony No. 3; Three Latin American Sketches.

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  • Critical Praise for “Bernstein’s Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival”

    November 16, 2017

    Slatkin’s performances with the New York Philharmonic for the Leonard Bernstein centennial celebration were met with rave reviews. The program included Bernstein’s “Kaddish,” with soprano Tamara Wilson, the Concert Chorale of New York, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and narration by Jeremy Irons.

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  • Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School, Lesson Fourteen: How It Looks and Sounds, Part One

    November 15, 2017

    In this month’s lesson, Maestro Slatkin provides an opportunity for students to combine the beat patterns and left-hand communication techniques they have learned to conduct an excerpt from Maurice Ravel’s Bolero.

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  • Slatkin Conducts at NY Phil’s Bernstein Centennial Festival

    November 7, 2017

    Leonard Slatkin conducts the New York Philharmonic as they honor Leonard Bernstein in his 100th birthday year. Bernstein’s Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival is part of the worldwide salute to the legacy of the renowned composer, conductor, pianist, and educator.

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  • NOVEMBER 2017

    A quick glance at my calendar showed me that there was not going to be very much time to rest during the first couple months of the new season. Fortunately, all the conducting was going to be done with institutions I know well, so at least a degree of familiarity lent some cohesion to the whirlwind of rehearsals and concerts. My schedule would include the three orchestras where my career had developed over the past 50 years.

    First up was St. Louis. It is hard to believe that it was 49 years ago that a young man first stood on that podium at Powell Symphony Hall. There will be celebrations to come next season, but this year it was a return to one of the pieces that helped put the orchestra on the map. I did not count how many times we performed Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, but it was probably the work we played the most often.

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  • Slatkin Returns to MSM for Second Annual Conductors’ Project

    October 24, 2017

    Leonard Slatkin is in New York City for the second annual Manhattan School of Music/Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conductors’ Project. Two recent MSM conducting graduates—Malcolm J. Merriweather and Yoon Sang Timothy Cho—are the selected conducting fellows for the project.

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  • For 2018 Grammy Consideration: Three of Leonard Slatkin’s Naxos Recordings

    October 23, 2017

    Members of the Recording Academy are voting in the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards, and three of Leonard Slatkin’s recordings have been submitted for consideration.

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  • DSO Principal Viola and Principal Cello to Perform as Featured Soloists

    October 18, 2017

    DSO Principal Viola Eric Nowlin and Principal Cello Wei Yu will be featured soloists for concerts conducted by Music Director Leonard Slatkin, October 20-21. The program includes a world premiere by Loren Loiacono titled Smothered by Sky, Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy.

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  • Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School, Lesson Thirteen: Stop and Hold

    October 15, 2017

    In October’s conducting lesson, Maestro Slatkin addresses how to cut off the orchestra. He also introduces the fermata symbol and its effect on the ending of a piece, using score examples from Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony.

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