Author archive for leonard slatkin

  • Acclaim for William Grant Still’s “Highway 1, U.S.A.” at Opera Theatre of St. Louis

    June 4, 2021

    OTSL resurrects a seldom-performed opera by William Grant Still, regarded as “the dean of African-American composers.” Highway 1, U.S.A. is an intimate, one-act work with a sweeping score that blends elements of Romanticism, blues, and musical theater.

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  • Rave Reviews for “Gianni Schicchi” at Opera Theatre of St. Louis

    June 1, 2021

    Opera has returned to the Gateway City with the opening of Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s 2021 festival season. As reviewer Eric Meyer noted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Palpable anticipation radiated from audience, staff and performers alike before the opening performance.”

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  • JUNE 2021

    If it’s June, it must be time for opera. Or at least that is how it usually works in St. Louis. In 1976, a group of passionate advocates for the artform got together and decided it was time for the city to have its own company.

    Their first foray was a success, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis has been thriving ever since. Housed at Webster University in the suburb of Webster Groves, the company presents around four productions a season, hires almost exclusively American talent, boasts an outstanding young artist program, and presents operas in English. More on that a bit later.

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  • Slatkin Conducts Two Productions with Opera Theatre of St. Louis

    May 20, 2021

    Opera Theatre of St. Louis brings its 2021 season outdoors at the Loretto-Hilton Center. The festival begins with Puccini’s comic opera in one act, Gianni Schicchi, and continues with Highway 1, U.S.A., a long-neglected opera by the “dean” of African American composers, William Grant Still.

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  • MAY 2021: Getting in Shape Edition

    Looking at me, you would never know that I was once a skinny, underweight teenager. And before that, back in the ’50s, I was served a malted milk a day to get my girth up to snuff. Those days are long gone.

    With the ever-present battle of the bulge raging, the pandemic provided an opportunity to try and get myself into decent shape. For starters, I would not be dining out for quite a while, which was good news for my waistline. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet was difficult on the road given the lure of late-night gastronomic delights at parties, receptions and fine restaurants. Most of the establishments I ate in did not have salad bars.

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  • NEA Funding for “The Slatkin Shuffle” on Classic 107.3 FM

    May 13, 2021

    The National Endowment for the Arts announced that Radio Arts Foundation will receive a Grant for Arts Projects in the music category. Classic 107.3 FM will use the funding to support “The Slatkin Shuffle,” a weekly radio program in which Slatkin shares anecdotes about the eclectic collection of songs in his playlist.

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  • MAY 2021

    A little over a month after returning to the podium, I have been struck by how various orchestras are dealing with rehearsing and presenting concerts. In the past, a conductor could just show up, ask how long the orchestra could rehearse before taking a break, and try to accomplish the goals for the day.

    Now it is all different. Every orchestra seems to regulate things depending on state guidelines, union rules, and what they feel is best for everyone. The three ensembles I worked with recently each has a different method of operation.

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  • Slatkin Continues Musical Journey with SLSO

    April 21, 2021

    In a time of limited travel, Slatkin takes listeners across the globe with music by Britten, Ravel, and Ginastera. The concerts will be performed for a socially distanced live audience in Powell Hall Friday through Sunday, April 23-25.

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  • Slatkin Returns to Detroit April 15-16

    April 7, 2021

    Celebrating ten years of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Live from Orchestra Hall webcasts, Leonard Slatkin returns to conduct two concerts featuring works by William Grant Still, Alberto Ginastera, Gerald Finzi, Jennifer Higdon, and Ernest Bloch on Thursday, April 15 and Friday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

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  • Slatkin Steps in at Rhode Island Philharmonic

    April 6, 2021

    Leonard Slatkin returns to Rhode Island this week to fill in for conductor Bramwell Tovey in a program featuring Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Wagner’s Siegfied Idyll, and Jon Kimura Parker performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. The concert will be live-streamed on Saturday, April 10, at 8 p.m. EDT.

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