Although he was born in Los Angeles, the internationally acclaimed conductor and composer Leonard Slatkin can trace his musical roots back to the Ukraine where he comes from a long line of musicians; his grandfather, the cellist Modest Altschuler settled in America in the early 1900s and formed the Russian Symphony Orchestra.
Slatkin, like many of his musical peers, studied at the Juilliard School in Manhattan, mentored by Jean Morel, and made his conducting debut with the award-winning New York Youth Symphony. Two years later he was made the assistant conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble with which the conductor has maintained close ties throughout his career.
Slatkin has gone on to become one of America's most influential and successful musical directors and conductors and brought his talents to the UK in 1997 where he became the principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra before taking up an appointment as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2000. His tenure with the BBC lasted four years until Slatkin resigned, reportedly unhappy with the balance of superiority within the orchestra which had led to poor reviews. Slatkin returned to the US where he has since taken on a variety of top posts with ensembles such as the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and latterly the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
