20 Facts About Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine.

Leonard Slatkin studied at Indiana University and Los Angeles City College before attending the Juilliard School, where he studied conducting under Jean Morel.

Leonard Slatkin studied with Walter Susskind at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Leonard Slatkin's conducting debut was in 1966 when he became artistic director and conductor of the award-winning New York Youth Symphony, and in 1968 Walter Susskind named him the assistant conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Slatkin left St Louis in 1977 to become music director of the New Orleans Symphony.

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Leonard Slatkin led a series of Beethoven festivals with the San Francisco Symphony during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Leonard Slatkin returned to Saint Louis in 1979 as music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Slatkin's recorded work with that orchestra was represented on RCA Victor Red Seal, EMI, Vox Records, and Telarc.

Leonard Slatkin became a devoted fan of the St Louis Cardinals baseball team during his tenure in St Louis and has retained his interest in the Cardinals since his departure from St Louis.

Leonard Slatkin was the director of the Blossom Festival of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1990 to 1999.

Leonard Slatkin was a guest conductor for the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra.

In 2000, Leonard Slatkin became the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Previously in the UK, Leonard Slatkin was principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1997 to 2000 and made a series of digital recordings for RCA with them, including the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In 2006, Leonard Slatkin was named the music advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

In June 2007, Leonard Slatkin was announced as the next Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and he assumed this post in 2008.

Leonard Slatkin conducted his first concert as music director in Detroit in December 2008.

Leonard Slatkin is credited with having rebuilt the DSO after a six-month strike and elevating it as a pillar of civic pride through innovative live webcasts and engaging community programming.

Leonard Slatkin's compositions include The Raven for narrator and orchestra after Edgar Allan Poe, and Kinah, an elegy dedicated to the memory of his parents, which received its world premiere with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in December 2015.

Leonard Slatkin published his debut book, Conducting Business: Unveiling the Mystery Behind the Maestro, in 2012.

Leonard Slatkin has a son, Daniel Slatkin, from his marriage to Hohenfeld.