LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LATEST NEWS

Acclaim for William Grant Still’s “Highway 1, U.S.A.” at Opera Theatre of St. Louis
By leonard slatkin
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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leonard slatkin
Rave Reviews for “Gianni Schicchi” at Opera Theatre of St. Louis
By leonard slatkin
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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leonard slatkin

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JANUARY 2025

By leonard slatkin

Before all the holidays converged at the same time, the first half of December was relatively quiet for Cindy and me, except for one conducting assignment that turned out to be very interesting.

For the past several years, I have been doing some teaching at the Manhattan School of Music. The conservatory is housed in the same building where my mother, uncle, brother, and I all studied while attending Juilliard. Every time I enter the door at 122nd Street and Claremont Avenue, I am reminded of the rich tradition of music that has emerged from those storied halls.

Leonard Slatkin

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, and Artistic Consultant to the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

A six-time Grammy winner and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has been awarded the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton. He received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business (2012), which was followed by Leading Tones (2017) and Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21^st Century (2021). His latest books are Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Twentieth Century (Rowman & Littlefield, spring 2024) and Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Nineteenth Century (fall 2024), comprising essays that supplement the score-study process.

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