How many contemporary readers were seated within these walls on January 10, 1974, when a young man named Leonard Slatkin took the stage to conduct music by Berlioz, Beethoven, and Prokofiev? Then 29 years old and full of ideas and intelligence, he was on a path that would lead to music directorships in the United States and the United Kingdom, to more than 100 recordings (35 of which were finalists for Grammy Awards, 6 of them winners), and to a sustained and passionate advocacy for American music wherever he went.
Slatkin is now 80 years old and again conducting the New York Philharmonic, a crucial peak in his milestone year, playing recent works by composers he knows and loves (he has been friends with John Corigliano for decades, and has been married to Cindy McTee since 2011), alongside an essential work from the 20th century, Shostakovich鈥檚 Symphony No. 5 (March 26鈥�29). His appearance also marks his debut in the current incarnation of what began as Philharmonic Hall in 1962 and has been rebuilt twice in the last 60 years, emerging finally as David Geffen Hall in October 2022. Slatkin is all but unique in his status as a conductor who has led New York Philharmonic subscription concerts in each of the hall鈥檚 incarnations. Therefore, he plays no small part in the Philharmonic鈥檚 history.
He studied at Juilliard, now just a couple hundred feet north on Broadway. It was to Slatkin that the Philharmonic turned when Leonard Bernstein died in 1990 to lead a memorial concert devoted entirely to the NY Phil Laureate Conductor鈥檚 compositions. Two months later, Slatkin added Copland鈥檚 Quiet City to his program to commemorate another fallen musical hero. He knew both musicians, as well as hundreds of other composers. At the Philharmonic he has conducted premieres of works by Barbara Kolb, William Bolcom, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, and T艒ru Takemitsu, among others.
If anybody could be said to be 鈥渂orn into music,鈥� it is Slatkin. His father, Felix Slatkin, was then the concertmaster at 20th Century Fox movie studios; his mother, Eleanor Aller, was first cellist at Warner Bros. In addition to his duties as a violinist, Felix conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and the Concert Arts Chamber Orchestra, and both parents (as well as an uncle) were members of the legendary Hollywood String Quartet, whose recordings are considered exemplars of intimate and intelligent music-making.
It was an amazing time to grow up in Los Angeles. Visitors such as Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Danny Kaye filled the house, and Slatkin still treasures an hour-long tape recording of Heitor Villa Lobos improvising on the family piano.This upbringing 鈥� close experience with the many, many things that a musician in Los Angeles will be asked to drive across town for during the course of a career 鈥� had a strong influence on Slatkin鈥檚 catholicity of taste, which has remained fervent.
It was inevitable that young Leonard would have a career in music. He began violin at three, and later studied piano, viola, and composition. He harbored an interest in conducting, but said he did not feel fully liberated to pursue that ambition until 1963, when his father died after a heart attack at age 47. Within three years Leonard Slatkin had made his debut as music director and conductor of the New York Youth Symphony. Today he lives in St. Louis, where he has been associated with its great orchestra since 1968.
鈥淚 simply do not know what I would do if I could no longer conduct,鈥� Slatkin told this critic in 1984. 鈥淭his is my life. I don鈥檛 consider it work. I consider it an honor. It鈥檚 almost entirely pleasure 鈥� even the problems. Music nourishes; music fulfills.鈥�
Tim Page is professor emeritus of musicology at the Thornton School of Music and Dance at the University of Southern California. In 1997 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his writings about music in The Washington Post.
Below, Slatkin reflects on his relationship with the New York Phil
Leonard Slatkin: When I was a boy, trying to grow up in Hollywood, the first orchestra I really knew about was not the local band, but rather the New York Philharmonic. On Sunday afternoons, the family would tune in and listen together to the Orchestra鈥檚 radio broadcasts.
As a student at Juilliard, before there was a Lincoln Center, we waited eagerly for someone to come to the cafeteria and say that there were tickets available for the Philharmonic. If it was a Friday at lunch, we would then race down and just make it in time for the matinee.
There is probably no greater thrill than making one鈥檚 conducting debut with the Philharmonic. Mine was a last-minute substitution, somewhat like that other Lenny. Back then, the Orchestra was a bit harder on young conductors, throwing up little musical obstacles in order to determine if we had the goods or not. I guess I passed the tests.
Our relationship has flourished over the last 50 years. I truly am looking forward to making music with them again and experiencing the new David Geffen Hall for the first time.
