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leonard slatkin
JUNE 2025
Read moreEverything was fine until the missile landed at the airport.
Do I have your attention now? More about that in a bit.
May picked up where April left off, with another outstanding week in Las Palmas. This time, we had an all-orchestral program that truly tested the musicians in three stylistically different works. With the memories of an outstanding Bruckner’s Fourth, we dove into Brahms, Cruixent, and Tchaikovsky with fervor and energy.
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leonard slatkin
Slatkin to Speak at New Hollywood String Quartet’s Summer of Angels Festival
Read moreMay 19, 2025
Leonard will introduce the Summer of Angels Chamber Music Festival July 10-13 at The Huntington in San Marino, CA. The concerts will feature the New Hollywood String Quartet playing repertoire recorded by the original Hollywood String Quartet.
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leonard slatkin
Leonard Slatkin Returns to Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Read moreMay 14, 2025
Leonard returns to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis for its 50th anniversary season as conductor of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production runs June 14-28 at the Loretto-Hilton Center.
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leonard slatkin
MAY 2025
Read moreSometimes I look at my calendar and say to myself, “What was I thinking?” What might appear simple and straightforward can turn into something unusual and not quite so understandable.
It has been a very busy first half of 2025 as orchestras kindly continued to mark my eightieth birthday. With projects piling up, I wondered if this end-of-season push might be too taxing.
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leonard slatkin
“Slatkin Shuffle” Radio Program to Air in Las Vegas
Read moreApril 2, 2025
Beginning Sunday, April 6, Nevada Public Radio Classical 89.7 KCNV will syndicate Leonard’s weekly radio show, The Slatkin Shuffle. Tune in from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific as Leonard shares anecdotes about the eclectic collection of songs in his playlist.
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leonard slatkin
APRIL 2025
Read moreTo paraphrase John Oliver, “It has been a busy month.”
After the relatively quiet February, March came in like a lion and never let up. When I looked at my calendar, it appeared somewhat normal, but that might have been more in line with a time when I was a younger man. It was a lot to pack in, and I shall try and summarize as succinctly as possible.
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leonard slatkin
Slatkin Returns to the New York Philharmonic
Read moreMarch 24, 2025
This week, Leonard leads the New York Philharmonic. A highlight in his milestone 80th birthday season, the three-concert engagement features Cindy McTee’s Double Play, John Corigliano’s Triathlon with saxophone soloist Timothy McAllister, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
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leonard slatkin
MARCH 2025
Read moreSometimes 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.
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leonard slatkin
FEBRUARY 2025
Read moreI could spend this entire essay writing about an incredible trip to Thailand and Bali—the floating market, the train market, the monkey reserve, a royal wedding, and so much more—but I will let Cindy share a few photos and leave the rest up to your imagination.
January saw me back on the podium in three cities, each in Japan. The programs were varied in content but all dispatched with expertise by the orchestras I led. Since 1983, I have been coming to Tokyo on a regular basis to work with the NHK. On this visit, I led the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, one of the eleven professional ensembles that exist here.
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leonard slatkin
Slatkin Returns to Japan to Conduct in Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima
Read moreJanuary 13, 2025
Leonard is preparing for concerts with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra January 14-15 in Suntory Hall. The program includes Cindy McTee’s Adagio for Strings, Walton’s Violin Concerto, and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.