LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

There is no "perfect" in music. If I were ever to come off the
stage feeling that the performance could not have been
better, it would then be time to quit.

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

There is no “perfect” in music. If I were ever to come off the stage feeling that the performance could not have been better, it would then be time to quit.

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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Latest from the Journal

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.

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), and Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 35 nominations. A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, he also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017. He is working on a third volume, Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21^st Century.

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