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

Slatkin to Conduct at Aspen, Bravo! Vail, and Ravinia Festivals
By leonard slatkin
July 18, 2019

Leonard Slatkin kicks off his upcoming 75^th birthday celebration with a performance at the Aspen Music Festival—where he first studied conducting under Walter Susskind in 1964—this Sunday, July 21, at 4 p.m. in the Benedict Music Tent.

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leonard slatkin
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Slatkin
By leonard slatkin
June 21, 2019

On Wednesday, June 19, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra donors, subscribers, musicians and staff gathered in Powell Hall for an onstage dinner and special musical performance to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Slatkin’s debut with the orchestra.

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leonard slatkin

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Upcoming Events

Sun 21

Houston Symphony Orchestra

Saturday, September 14 @ 7:30 pm

Latest from the Journal

“I actually think that the job of chief conductor is becoming obsolete. The famous names from the past, Willem Mengelberg and Eduard van Beinum, spent a lot of time in Amsterdam. These days chefs constantly travel from one orchestra to another.”

Those words come from the soon-to-retire Bernard Haitink. Boy, does he have it right. After a full season of simply being a guest conductor, I believe that the musical landscape has changed significantly, and one of those alterations has to do with the perceived necessity of having a music director. I will get to this topic a bit later in this piece, but first, there was one week of work left before the summer break.

Leonard Slatkin

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

In the 2019-20 season, he will celebrate his 75^thbirthday year with several of the orchestras he has led over the course of his 50-year career, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, DSO, and ONL. Other highlights include return engagements with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony in Dublin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, and Würth Philharmonic in Künzelsau, Germany; and three weeks in Spain conducting orchestras in Castile-León, Bilbao, and the Balearic Islands.

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