LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LATEST NEWS

SLSO Celebrates 50 Years of Partnership with Leonard Slatkin
By leonard slatkin
March 29, 2019

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will celebrate its remarkable 50-year partnership with Leonard Slatkin when the SLSO Conductor Laureate returns to lead the orchestra in two weeks of concerts—April 27-May 4—programmed around works and people with special meaning in Slatkin’s career.

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leonard slatkin
New Recording Release: Copland’s “Billy the Kid” and “Grogh”
By leonard slatkin
March 8, 2019

Naxos has released the third installment in Leonard Slatkin’s cycle of Copland’s ballet works with the Detroit Symphony. The latest recording features the enduringly popular Billy the Kid in its complete version, coupled with the one-act ballet Grohg, inspired by the silent expressionist film Nosferatu.

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leonard slatkin

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NOVEMBER 2023

By leonard slatkin

The road beckoned, and I travelled west and east for what I hoped would be lovely sets of concerts. That wish has so far come true, but the intrusions on beauty by events taking place at home and abroad prevented total immersion in the music.

Over and over, I kept wondering what those of us who practice our art in public could do as war broke out in Gaza. And as usual, there was no answer. Organizations and individual artists can make statements, but ultimately we are powerless to do much more than offer some sort of diversion for a little while to those who attend our performances. The audience comes to the concert hall or opera house to escape the outside world. And, to an even greater degree, so do my fellow musicians, who work tirelessly to get to the heart and soul of the music we play.

Leonard Slatkin

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017, followed by Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21^st Century (2021). Two volumes of a new series comprising essays that supplement the score-study process are scheduled for release by Rowman & Littlefield in 2024. He is also working on several new compositions.

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