A celebratory concert by a famed conductor might include a few greatest hits from the repertory – a chance to dazzle audiences with music that is powerful but familiar.
But not when the famed conductor in question is Leonard Slatkin.
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s “Slatkin’s Legacy: A Birthday Celebration” on Friday and Sunday will include work by two living composers, the world premiere for Slatkin’s arrangement of work by a Baroque composer and just one familiar masterwork, by Tchaikovsky.
It reflects the SLSO composer laureate’s longtime advocacy for contemporary music and his love for the work of Russian composers. The contemporary composers in question happen to be his son Daniel Slatkin and his wife, Cindy McTee.
“It wasn't about just me,” Slatkin, 80, said on St. Louis on the Air about his motivations while putting together the program. “It could have been, but I didn't want that. I wanted to celebrate the heritage of the Slatkins and the Allers on my mother's side. I wanted to celebrate Cindy. And I wanted to make it very clear that my existence as a musician is formed by those people who are around me.”
Concerts Friday and Sunday at UMSL’s Touhill Performing Arts Center will feature Slatkin leading the SLSO through its first performance of Cindy McTee’s “Timepiece,” the U.S. premiere of Daniel Slatkin’s “Voyager 130,” the world premiere of Slatkin’s arrangement of Domenico Scarlatti’s “Five Sonatas for Orchestral Wind Ensemble” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Slatkin will also discuss his life and career in a Friday night talk at the Clark Family Branch of St. Louis County Library.
Slatkin’s birthday season includes performances at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, two organizations he led as music director after departing the SLSO.
Crucially, Slatkin’s valedictory weekend in St. Louis includes an open rehearsal on Saturday during which three up-and-coming composers will take turns leading the SLSO while receiving notes from Slatkin in real time. The public is invited.
Slatkin cites his founding of the orchestra’s Youth Symphony, while still the orchestra’s assistant conductor in 1969, as one of his greatest achievements in St. Louis. Ten years later he became the SLSO’s music director and served in the role until 1996. Four years later he founded the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C.
“The simple fact is that the youth orchestra has survived all the years and continues to flourish and is doing so well – I guess a legacy, if one calls it that, is not always measured by what you leave behind but what you have founded that continues after you're gone,” Slatkin said.
Related event
What: Slatkin's Legacy A Birthday Celebration
When: Concerts Oct. 25 and 27. Broadcast on STLPR at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26.
Where: Touhill Performing Arts Center (1 Touhill Circle, St. Louis)
