Author archive for leonard slatkin

  • AUGUST 2022

    Quite some time ago, I planned for this summer to be one of peace and quiet, with very little conducting and a lot of time to focus on other projects. For the most part, this is working out well.

    On the book front, I have nearly completed a fourth volume of my writings. Primarily a memoir, Words Without Songs fills in some major gaps in what I have written previously about my life, with lengthy chapters about my father and mother as well as one about my brother. Because so many people have asked about my family’s relationship to Frank Sinatra, there is also a chapter devoted to “The Voice.” In addition, I recount various pranks my cohorts and I used to pull, some of them quite outrageous.

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  • Slatkin to Conduct New York Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail Music Festival

    July 11, 2022

    Slatkin will conduct two programs with the New York Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail. The first features Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and cellist Zlatomir Fung performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. The second is a Sondheim celebration with soloists Isabel Leonard and Emmett O’Hanlon.

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  • JULY 2022

    For a complete change of pace, I decided to take most of the summer off, starting in June and going through mid-September. I agreed to participate in a couple isolated events, but they are not with the usual suspects. One of them occurred in early June.

    I was sitting around, working on the two books—yes, I have almost finished one and started another—when an interesting proposal popped up on my computer screen. To comprehend what it really meant, you must understand that the cultural history of Missouri is quite complicated. We are only 300 miles south of Chicago, but Memphis is just down river. Are we considered part of the South or the North?

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  • New Album Release: Jeff Beal’s Paper Lined Shack

    June 24, 2022

    Today marks the release of The Paper Lined Shack on Supertrain Records. The album features Slatkin conducting the Eastman Philharmonia and soprano Hila Plitmann in Jeff Beal’s song cycle inspired by the diary of Beal’s great-grandmother Della, a widow who raised her family on a ten-acre farm in Idaho.

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  • Slatkin Named Principal Guest Conductor of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria

    June 15, 2022

    The Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria has announced Slatkin’s three-year appointment as Principal Guest Conductor. Slatkin made his debut with the orchestra this past April. “This is a fantastic ensemble, responsive at every turn and full of life in rehearsals and the concert,” Slatkin stated.

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  • JUNE 2022

    With the musical season winding down and summer almost upon us, my last conducting dates took place on behalf of others. Let me explain.

    In mid-April, I received a call from the Rhode Island Philharmonic asking if I were available to stand in for Bramwell Tovey to conduct the final concerts of their subscription series. I had filled in for him on two occasions last season, conducting concerts with smaller forces. This time, I had the opportunity to work with the full orchestra. Bramwell’s program included the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven and works by Brahms and Barber to begin. As a guest, one does not often get the chance to do this symphony, as it is usually reserved for the music director.

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  • MAY 2022

    Highs and lows dominated the opening of the spring season. My old globe-trotting ways have returned, but numerous restrictions, protocols, and health checks made parts of the journey burdensome.

    I was in Europe at the end of March, having conducted a fine concert in Dublin. It was a luxury to be able to stay in the city and do a second week with the NSO of Ireland. This booking scheme used to be commonplace for me but is a rarity now. Single dates dominate my conducting schedule these days.

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  • “Music for Peace” with the Hiroshima Symphony

    April 21, 2022

    Under the banner of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra’s “Music for Peace” initiative and in recognition of the organization’s 50th anniversary as a professional ensemble, Leonard Slatkin leads a program featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 on Saturday, April 23, in Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen Hall.

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  • Michael Neidorff

    Accompanied by my future husband, I first met Michael in April of 2010, in St. Louis. The occasion was the…

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  • APRIL 2022

    Usually, when I begin writing these monthly essays, I have a pretty good idea as to how they will be structured. The beginning and end are clear, and all that I need to do is fill up the space in between. But March was different, in so many ways. If there was one thought that permeated the time, it had to be the continuing devastation in Ukraine.

    Tales of grief and woe, as well as ominous portents, made themselves known through stories on television, in print, and via internet. Amid efforts to censor and exaggerate, a portrait of our mad world became clear. I spent this month working and taking a bit of time off in Europe. Getting perspective away from home is always useful and, for a change, much of the world seemed in agreement regarding the crisis. Where it all fell apart was coming to solutions.

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