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leonard slatkin
OCTOBER 2023
Read moreA mostly calm and quiet September followed my 79th birthday, but I experienced one moment that made my month.
Not wanting to make a big deal out of turning another year older, I decided to go to a ballgame that evening. Instead of getting the tickets online, I headed to the ballpark’s box office. When I arrived downtown, other than noticing that the once-teeming metropolis that is St. Louis felt more like a ghost town, I went directly to the ticket window.
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leonard slatkin
SEPTEMBER 2023
Read moreNothing quite compares to a Taiwanese massage, especially if you happen to be in Taiwan. More on that later.
After several weeks away from conducting, the podium beckoned for some rehearsals and performances at the end of July and the first half of August. It started in my birthplace, Los Angeles, where I used to have the somewhat ungainly title of Principal Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Holllywood Bowl. My return featured two of the most-often- performed works there, as well as a piece by Cindy.
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leonard slatkin
AUGUST 2023
Read moreMost of this summer consists of downtime. With so many ongoing and looming projects, I knew I would need to dedicate many of these weeks to my books, music compositions, and outdoor grilling pursuits.
Although I had one conducting date at the Hollywood Bowl, I will wait until next month to write about it, along with what I anticipate will be a most interesting couple weeks of conducting in Taiwan.
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leonard slatkin
Rhapsody in Hollywood
Read moreJuly 23, 2023
Leonard is back in his birthplace, Los Angeles, for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and pianist Makoto Ozone on Tuesday, July 25, at 8 p.m. The program begins with Cindy McTee’s energetic Timepiece, followed by the double-blockbusters of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
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leonard slatkin
JULY 2023
Read moreHow life changes.
Normally, June is when orchestral seasons wind down, with subscription concerts ending sometime near the middle or end of the month. At least, that seems to be true when you are a music director. Now that I am a freelancer, the time for guest conducting has passed, and I get to focus on projects that do not require me to be on the podium.
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leonard slatkin
JUNE 2023
Read moreThere was a time when I would look at my calendar and say to myself, “Self, you are not too busy. Have a nice summer.” That was how it appeared it was going to be for a while this year. But priorities have a way of piling up, and now I find myself with just a little too much to do and not much time to accomplish it.
It all started out with a promise I made to my brother at his gravesite. He passed away on my birthday, September 1st, and we gathered in New Jersey two days later to lay him to rest.
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leonard slatkin
All-New “Slatkin Shuffle” Episodes
Read moreMay 26, 2023
New episodes of The Slatkin Shuffle will air on Classic 107.3 FM starting this weekend, Saturdays at 10 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. CDT. The May 27 episode is all about walking and its musical counterpart, andante. Join Leonard as he shares the eclectic collection of songs in his playlist. Listen to 200 hours of The Slatkin Shuffle on demand at Soundcloud.
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leonard slatkin
Next Stop: Nashville
Read moreMay 2, 2023
Leonard travels to Nashville this week to conduct a program comprising Copland’s Rodeo; Slatkin’s composition Kinah, an elegy to his parents; and Elgar’s Symphony No. 1. He was music advisor of the Nashville Symphony for three seasons 2006-2009, leading the inaugural concert in the Schermerhorn Center and the Grammy-winning recording of Joan Tower’s Made in America.
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leonard slatkin
MAY 2023
Read moreOrchestras are heading into the home stretch as the season winds down. Fortunately, I have had enough downtime to continue my work on some projects that do not involve standing on the podium, and this will be the case for most of the summer. At the end of September, I hope to be able to inform you of what I think are a couple exciting pieces of news.
In the meantime, I wrapped up this season’s concert appearances in Europe with a performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Warsaw. This was my third outing with the work, and it has not lost any of its power or difficulty. When I was around twenty years old, I played viola for a performance at UCLA conducted by Roger Wagner. Some of you will remember the recordings made by his Chorale.
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leonard slatkin
Slatkin Returns Home to Conduct SLSO
Read moreApril 18, 2023
Leonard is back in St. Louis to conduct a program steeped in Spain and the Spanish language, beginning with Chabrier’s España and concluding with Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote featuring cellist Joshua Roman. Rounding out the concert is Mason Bates’s Anthology of Fantastic Zoology, a “psychedelic Carnival of the Animals” based on Argentinian short stories.