LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LEONARD SLATKIN

CONDUCTOR | COMPOSER | AUTHOR

LATEST NEWS

Flying Blind: A Conductor’s Guide to Taking an Audition
By leonard slatkin
December 16, 2024

Leonard Slatkin shares his perspective on how string players should best approach a blind orchestral audition in a series of articles for The Strad.

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leonard slatkin
Rave Reviews for Slatkin, Ax, and the NSO in Washington, D.C.
By leonard slatkin
November 15, 2024

Reviewers praised the opening performance of Slatkin’s program with the National Symphony Orchestra, which features Cindy McTee’s Double Play, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with soloist Emanuel Ax, and Walton’s Symphony No. 1.

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leonard slatkin

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Latest from the Journal

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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