Author archive for leonard slatkin

  • Leonard Slatkin Brings the Orchestre National de Lyon to America

    February 8, 2017

    Beginning February 18, the Orchestre National de Lyon, “probably the most refined ensemble of the world” (The Guardian), tours the United States for the first time since 2003, playing concerts with music director Leonard Slatkin on a six-city tour.

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  • FEBRUARY 2017

    Is there a point in music when the phrase “too much of a good thing” applies? Certainly not when it comes to Mozart. The great Austrian was the focus of our Winter Music Festival, previously inhabited by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms. But there was also a week when the DSO played out in the neighborhoods, and that is where we start this month’s entry.

    For the past six seasons, a great deal of time has been spent performing in outlying communities, away from the grandeur of Orchestra Hall. There remain members of the public who either are unable to travel from the suburbs or still harbor apprehension about coming downtown. Over the course of our series, many of these people have been so taken by the orchestra that they have indeed started to visit The Max again.

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  • FEBRUARY 2017: The Right to Be Yourself

    Normally at this time, I post a monthly recap of musical events that have taken place, and that entry will appear during the second week of February. But something occurred over this past weekend that compels me to write something off-topic.

    It was Saturday in the late morning, as I was driving to Orchestra Hall and listening to the radio, that I first learned of the newly instituted immigration rules that have been put into place. All I could think about was that a little over a hundred years ago, both sides of my family came to Ellis Island seeking refuge from the horrors that were sweeping Russia. Their dream was to come to the States for political, social and religious freedom. Lady Liberty welcomed them with no tears.

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  • Detroit Symphony Orchestra Announces 2017-18 Season

    January 29, 2017

    Subscriptions are now on sale for the DSO’s 2017-18 season, a celebration of Leonard Slatkin’s 10th anniversary as music director. The classical series features eight world premieres, a French festival highlighting the music of Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Berlioz and more, and Puccini’s Turandot in concert.

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  • Detroit Symphony Orchestra Introduces Mozart Festival Mascot, “Wolfie”

    January 18, 2017

    This year’s mascot, “Wolfie,” shows up too early for the DSO’s Mozart Festival, so he makes the most of his time by shredding the piano in Orchestra Hall and taking requests from some old festival friends.

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  • Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School, Lesson Four: What to Do with the Left Hand

    January 15, 2017

    Building on previous lessons about the basic beat patterns in 2, 3, and 4, this month’s installment of Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School is all about the left hand.

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  • DSO Presents Three-Week Mozart Festival

    January 9, 2017

    The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s fourth annual Winter Music Festival will be a three-week celebration of Mozart’s masterpieces and influence. The festival kicks off on Thursday, January 19, and concludes on Sunday, February 5. Mozart Festival is anchored by DSO performances of six different programs conducted by Music Director Leonard Slatkin.

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  • Violinist Cho-Liang Lin Joins Slatkin for the DSO Neighborhood Series

    January 7, 2017

    Music Director Leonard Slatkin and violinist Cho-Liang Lin will present a program of Brahms, Lalo Schifrin, Smetana, and Mendelssohn as part of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series, bringing world-class orchestral music to venues across Metro Detroit.

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  • JANUARY 2017

    It could not have come a moment too soon. One had to wonder how history would paint its picture of this past year. There remains much to be settled, and none of us knows how events in the States or the world will affect the arts. Still, there were two fine weeks of performances left in Detroit before Cindy and I started on a nice, long vacation.

    A few years ago, when the DSO went to Carnegie Hall, we inherited a program originally scheduled for the Oregon Symphony featuring Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht’s Seven Deadly Sins with vocalist Storm Large. Fiscal demands prohibited our colleagues in Portland from getting to New York, and since we were already headed there for our own program, we also filled in the previous evening.

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  • Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School, Lesson Three: The Basic 2 and 3 Patterns

    December 15, 2016

    The third installment of Leonard Slatkin’s Conducting School is now available! December’s lesson focuses on conducting in 2 and 3.

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