LEONARD SLATKIN

'Leonard Edward Slatkin' (born September 1 1944) is an American conductor. His father was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet, Felix Slatkin, and his mother was Eleanor Aller, the cellist with the quartet. His brother, Frederick Zlotkin, is a cellist.

Contents

Biography

Honors

Personal Life

References

External links

Biography

Slatkin studied at Indiana University and Los Angeles City College before attending the Juilliard School where he studied conducting under Jean Paul Morel. His conducting debut came in 1966, and in 1968, Walter Susskind named him an assistant conductor at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He stayed there until 1977, when he was made music advisor of the New Orleans Symphony.
He led a series of Beethoven festivals with the San Francisco Symphony during the late 1970s and early 1980s. These annual concerts, held during June, included the orchestra's final concert in San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House in 1980, which included a performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony.
Slatkin returned to Saint Louis in 1979 as music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. The national profile of the orchestra increased notably under his tenure. In 1985, he recorded the first digital stereo version of Tchaikovsky's ''The Nutcracker'' with the SLSO. He remained there until 1996, and was named the SLSO's conductor laureate after his departure. His recorded work with that orchestra was represented on RCA Records, EMI and TelArc. Slatkin, a big fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team,^[1] said that one of his biggest regrets in leaving the St. Louis Symphony to become conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra would be that he would no longer be able to attend Cardinals games. He made recordings for RCA Records with the National Symphony until RCA abandoned new classical recording early in the twenty-first century.
He was the director of the Blossom Festival of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1990-1999. In 1996, Slatkin became music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. In 2004, it was announced that his tenure with the National Symphony will conclude in 2008.^[2] Slatkin received both praise for improving the overall quality of the orchestra and criticism for under-rehearsal of the NSO.^[3]
In 2000, he became the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2001, he was the only the second non-British person to conduct the Last Night of the Proms (Sir Charles Mackerras had been the first in 1980). This performance occurred in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, and included changes to the traditional second half of the concert.^[4] He held this post until 11 September 2004, the 110th Last Night. There were reports of tension between Slatkin and the orchestra, as well as consistently negative concert reviews, which contributed to his short tenure with the BBCSO.^{[5] [6]} Previously in the UK, Slatkin was principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1997-2000. In 2005, he became the principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
In 2006, he was named the music advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. In that capacity, he conducted the inaugural concert of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on September 9, 2006. In June 2007, it was announced that Slatkin would become the Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2008.^[7]
Slatkin has conducted a wide range of repertoire, being particularly noted for his interpretations of twentieth century American and British composers. His compositions, including ''The Raven'' (1971) for narrator and orchestra after Edgar Allan Poe, are little known. In addition to his earlier St. Louis recordings for RCA and EMI, Slatkin has conducted several recordings for the Naxos label, including the first commercial recording of William Bolcom's ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience''.^[8]

Honors

In 1990, Leonard Slatkin was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. On October 27 2006, the Jacobs School of Music announced that Slatkin will be joining the faculty at Indiana University where he will teach conducting and composition part-time.

Personal Life

Slatkin has been married three times. His first two marriages, to Beth Gootee and to Jerilyn Cohen, ended in divorce. He and his third wife, soprano Linda Hohenfeld, married since 1986, have a son, Daniel.^[9]
He had a widely-publicised affair with the deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

References

1. The Slatkin Connection
2. Slatkin, NSO to Part in 2008
3. Maestro of His Domain
4. Prom 72/ Last Night of the Proms
5. Who'll pick up the baton?
6. 'Grumpy? What's that?'
7. Slatkin Also To Conduct In Pittsburgh
8. Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and Experience: Soloists/ University of Michigan Musical Society/ Slatkin
9. Star-spangled Promenader

External links

★ Leonard Slatkin official website

★

★ Leonard Slatkin at Columbia Artists Management

★ Leonard Slatkin at the St. Louis Walk of Fame

★ Leonard Slatkin biography at Naxos Records

★ NewMusicBox cover: Leonard Slatkin in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, November 18, 2005 (includes video)