Leonard Slatkin
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), and Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author and educator. Slatkin has received six GRAMMY Awards and 35 nominations.
Recent releases for Naxos include the world premiere of Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers commemorating the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending the First World War, as well as works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).
A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion d’Honneur. He has received the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honour in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. A second volume, Leading Tones: Refl ections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017. Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21st Century (2021), is available through Rowman & Littlefi eld.
Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As music director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as principal guest conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Cleveland.
