Leonard Slatkin,
Conductor Laureate
Following a successful tenure as Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1979 until 1996, Mr. Slatkin was named Conductor Laureate. Mr. Slatkin also recently accepted the position of Music Advisor to the Nashville Symphony. He has served as Festival Director of the Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Festival (1990-99), Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1997-2000), Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2000-04), and in September 2008, Mr. Slatkin will begin his appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout his career, Mr. Slatkin has demonstrated a continuing commitment to arts education and to reaching diverse audiences. He is the founder and director of the National Conducting Institute, an advanced career development program for rising conductors. Additionally, Mr. Slatkin founded the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and has also worked with student orchestras across the U.S., including those at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He works frequently with youth orchestras across America and abroad, including the DC Youth Orchestra, Midwest Youth Symphony Orchestra, American-Soviet Youth Orchestra, European Community Youth Orchestra, and American Youth Philharmonic. He also reaches out to younger musicians and music teachers through the NSO American Residencies program. Mr. Slatkin is the Arthur R. Metz Foundation Conductor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, and beginning with the 2007-08 season, the Distinguished Artist in Residence at the American University.
Born in Los Angeles to a distinguished musical family, his parents were the conductor-violinist Felix Slatkin and cellist Eleanor Aller, founding members of the famed Hollywood String Quartet. Mr. Slatkin began his musical studies on the violin and studied conducting with his father, followed by Walter Susskind at the Aspen Music Festival and School and Jean Morel at the Juilliard School. He is married to soprano Linda Hohenfeld, and they have one son, Daniel.
