«There is no such word as ‘perfect’ in music. If ever I came out of a concert thinking that the concert couldn’t have been better, then it would be time for me to stop.»
World-renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin was Music Director of the Orchestre national de Lyon (ONL) from September 2011 to June 2017. He is currently the orchestra’s Honorary Music Director. He is also the honorary conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and fulfilling a busy schedule as guest conductor, while working as composer, author and teacher. In the course of the 2019/2020 season, he celebrated his 75th birthday with several of the orchestras that he has conducted over his half-century career, including the St. Louis and Nashville Symphony Orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), the DSO and the ONL. Leonard Slatkin has made over 100 recordings, which have earned him six Grammy Awards and 34 nominations. His latest recording releases include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Berlioz (with the ONL) and works by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee and John Williams (with the DSO).
Moreover, he has recorded the complete symphonies of Brahms, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky with the DSO (available only as downloads). After Conducting Business, he published a second book, entitled Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, in 2017.
Leonard Slatkin has conducted the world’s premier orchestras. In his capacity as Music Director, he was posted to New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington and London (BBC Symphony Orchestra) before Detroit and Lyon. He was first guest conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Cleveland.
Born in Los Angeles in an eminent family of musicians, Leonard Slatkin studied orchestra conducting with his father, Felix Slatkin, then with Walter Susskind in Aspen and Jean Morel at the Juilliard School in New York
Prokofiev
Benjamin Grosvenor
Symphonique | ONL
