Author archive for leonard slatkin

  • New Episodes of “The Slatkin Shuffle” and “American Musical Journey” on Classic 107.3

    January 20, 2022

    This weekend, American Musical Journey, Slatkin’s radio program about the evolution of music, moves into a new time slot on Classic 107.3 FM—Sundays at 12 p.m. Central. Upcoming all-new episodes of The Slatkin Shuffle feature selections from the years 1964 and 1968.

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  • Naxos to Release “Slatkin Conducts Slatkin” Album on February 11

    January 5, 2022

    Naxos Records has announced a release date of February 11 for Leonard’s latest recording, Slatkin Conducts Slatkin. The album features works written by generations of Slatkin’s musical family.

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  • JANUARY 2022

    Happy New Year!

    Just when we thought nothing was worse than 2020, good old Father Time reminded us that he still had some tricks up his sleeve.

    December ended quietly for Cindy and me. The only conducting I did was a set of holiday concerts in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence. Originally, we had planned to do the rarely performed Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saëns, but the ONL was still in concerts-without-intermission mode, so that idea went away.

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  • DECEMBER 2021

    It has been three years since I stepped down from my more-than-40-year role as a music director. Having held this position with orchestras both in the States and Europe, I covered a lot of musical ground and accumulated a planeload of airline miles. Some people believe I have retired from conducting, but that is hardly the case.

    However, there are some very different aspects to life as a veteran guest conductor, most of which I had not really anticipated until recently. The experience of focusing solely on the music has been much more profound than I expected. Not required to make any administrative decisions, I have been relieved of stress that only became apparent to me after I left my positions. As a result of having fewer responsibilities, I have had time to reexamine several pieces that I have wanted to focus on, whether they were going to appear in upcoming programs or not.

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  • Slatkin Makes Debut with MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest

    November 19, 2021

    Leonard Slatkin is in Budapest working with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, marking his first time conducting a Hungarian orchestra in his fifty-year career. He will lead the orchestra in works by Corigliano, Dohnányi, and Beethoven.

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  • Naxos to Release Complete Leroy Anderson Box Set

    November 2, 2021

    This month, Naxos Records will release a five-CD box set of Leroy Anderson’s complete orchestral works as recorded by Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra. 

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  • NOVEMBER 2021

    It was homecoming month for me, with three of the five orchestras I led as music director on the docket. Over three consecutive weeks I conducted in St. Louis, Detroit, and Lyon. Only D.C. and the BBC were missing. But these three reunions were certainly enough to reestablish longstanding connections.

    Now that we reside close to Powell Hall, travel expenses to get there are kept to a minimum, and the musical pleasures hit maximum stride in each performance. Although I had seen and conducted several members of the SLSO in smaller-scale programs, this was the first time we were all together onstage for a full-fledged program since the pandemic began.

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  • Slatkin Arrives in Lyon to Conduct Two Programs

    October 19, 2021

    Leonard Slatkin is back in Europe for the first time since the global pandemic began, conducting Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, Rabaud’s La Procession nocturne, and John Williams’s Five Sacred Trees with the Orchestre National de Lyon.

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  • Slatkin Conducts Two World Premieres in Detroit

    October 15, 2021

    Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin returns to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducting Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and two world premieres: Samuel Adler’s Mirror Images and Joseph Schwantner’s Violin Concerto with soloist Yevgeny Kutick.

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  • “Made in America” with SLSO at Powell Hall

    October 7, 2021

    St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin takes the stage this weekend for a program that travels backwards in time to get three very different views of America. The performances on October 9 and 10 feature Joan Tower’s Made in America, William Bolcom’s Violin Concerto with soloist David Halen, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

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