LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

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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APRIL 2026

By leonard slatkin

Wars, interminable lines at airports, unbearable heat in the West, continued chaos at the Kennedy Center, and so much more. What can we do to alleviate some of this tension? And how fortunate are some of us to be able to bring solace and comfort through music?

March turned out to be an extraordinary month full of wonderful surprises and memorable moments. At first, I was dreading this nine-week European tour without a meaningful break between engagements. The trip comprises eight countries and seven different languages, if you count the Scottish dialect. Fortunately, I am giving repeat performances of several works over this timeframe and only conducting two pieces that are new to me.

Leonard Slatkin

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin was recently named Music Director of the Nashville Symphony. He will take the artistic helm of the orchestra beginning with the 2026/27 season, following his previous appointment as Artistic Advisor. His other titles include Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, and Artistic Consultant to the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

A six-time Grammy winner and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has been awarded the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton. His debut book, Conducting Business (2012), for which he received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award, was followed by Leading Tones (2017) and Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21^st Century (2021). His latest books are Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Twentieth Century (spring 2024) and Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Nineteenth Century (fall 2024), part of an ongoing series of essays that supplement the score-study process, published by Bloomsbury.

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