LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

2023: Another release of a John Williams concerto featuring principal players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Hunter Eberly delivered this with astonishing ease and a keen understanding of all the demands made by the composer. These covers celebrate my 80th birthday on Sept. 1, tracing the history of the Slatkin family through their recordings. ... See MoreSee Less

2022: This recording is special to my heart, as it features virtually all the members of the Slatkin family, including my wife, son, father, and mother, on one album. With an appearance by Alec Baldwin as well as some rare material from the 1940s, this one is indeed unique. These covers celebrate my 80th birthday on Sept. 1, tracing the history of the Slatkin family through their recordings. ... See MoreSee Less

2022: I began a working relationship with composer @jeffbealmusic several years ago, and this marked our first recording together. “The Paper Lined Shack” is a song cycle featuring the incredible @hilaplitmann. It was appropriate that the other work utilized the New Hollywood String Quartet. These covers celebrate my 80th birthday on Sept. 1, tracing the history of the Slatkin family through their recordings. ... See MoreSee Less

What a pleasure to spend a week with the North Carolina Symphony. Their musicianship and ethic were on display the whole time, resulting in magnificent performances of McTee, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. Olga Kern brought her usual distinctive flair to Rach 2. ... See MoreSee Less

2020: This remarkable recording was made in Washington’s National Cathedral. Kastalsky was a chorus master and composer who wrote this piece to honor the fallen soldiers during WWI. The performance was electrifying and memorable. These covers celebrate my 80th birthday on Sept. 1, tracing the history of the Slatkin family through their recordings. ... See MoreSee Less

2019: This is a two-conductor disc shared with Marin Alsop of music by Aaron Jay Kernis. I premiered the Flute Concerto with Marina Piccinini in 2016, and we recorded it with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. These covers celebrate my 80th birthday on Sept. 1, tracing the history of the Slatkin family through their recordings. ... See MoreSee Less

LATEST NEWS

Slatkin Conducts at NY Phil’s Bernstein Centennial Festival
By leonard slatkin
November 7, 2017

Leonard Slatkin conducts the New York Philharmonic as they honor Leonard Bernstein in his 100th birthday year. Bernstein’s Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival is part of the worldwide salute to the legacy of the renowned composer, conductor, pianist, and educator.

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leonard slatkin
Slatkin Returns to MSM for Second Annual Conductors’ Project
By leonard slatkin
October 24, 2017

Leonard Slatkin is in New York City for the second annual Manhattan School of Music/Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conductors’ Project. Two recent MSM conducting graduates—Malcolm J. Merriweather and Yoon Sang Timothy Cho—are the selected conducting fellows for the project.

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leonard slatkin

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MARCH 2025

By leonard slatkin

Sometimes a month can go by with just a little musical activity but can still be packed full with events of interest. Actually, I need to go back to the final week of January because I did not have time to write about the conclusion of the Asian trip last time. Here is the summary:

An engagement in Hiroshima followed my concerts in Osaka. The Hiroshima Symphony is another fine orchestra with great energy and wonderful discipline. Since we had success working together three years ago on Mahler 6, the orchestra asked for another symphony by the Austrian master. This time, we settled on Mahler’s First Symphony, and it was clear from the first rehearsal that we were going to achieve great things.

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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