Music Director Leonard Slatkin and the DSO.
DSO Asia Tour 2017
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will launch its Asia Tour 2017 with a free hometown send-off concert in Orchestra Hall on July 9 to say thank you to its supporters and fans in the Detroit community. The performance will also be webcast via the Live from Orchestra Hall series. Information on how to obtain tickets to this concert will be announced at a later date.
In Japan, the DSO will perform at Seitoku University outside Tokyo on July 14, Toyota City on July 15, and Osaka on July 16. The DSO then returns to Tokyo for a concert on July 17 and performance as part of the Tokyo Nippon Festival on July 19. The Japan leg of the DSO’s tour concludes in Fukui on July 20. Guest soloists in Japan will be pianist Makoto Ozone and violinist Akiko Suwanai.
The DSO will then travel to China for five concerts: Suzhou on July 22, Wuhan on July 23, Changsha on July 25, Chongqing on July 27, and concluding the tour with a performance in Shanghai at the Oriental Arts Center on July 29. Guest soloists in China will include cellist Trey Chui-yee Lee. An additional soloist for concerts in China is to be announced.
Music to be performed across the Asia Tour will include several American works that Mr. Slatkin and the DSO have highlighted in recent seasons—Copland’s Symphony No. 3, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Cindy McTee’s Double Play, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Other repertoire to be performed on the tour will include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Korngold’s Violin Concerto, and Takemitsu’s Far Calls. Coming, Far! Complete programs for each date will be announced later. See below for more details.About Leonard Slatkin
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He also maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting and is active as a composer, author, and educator.
Highlights of the 2015-16 season included a three-week Brahms festival in Detroit; engagements with the St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony in Tokyo; and debuts with Beijing's China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Summer events included a tour of Japan with the ONL and performances of Barber’s Vanessa in Santa Fe.
During the 2016-17 season—in addition to his regular duties in Detroit and Lyon—he will return to Pittsburgh and St. Louis, tour the U.S. and Europe with the ONL, conduct overseas with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Verdi Orchestra in Milan, and San Carlo Theatre Orchestra in Naples, and serve as chairman of the jury and conductor of the 2017 Cliburn Competition.
Slatkin’s more than 100 recordings have garnered seven Grammy awards and 64 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).
A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his book, Conducting Business.
Slatkin has conducted virtually all of the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts with the New Orleans, St. Louis, and National symphony orchestras, and he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Minnesota Orchestra. For more information, visit leonardslatkin.com.
About the DSO
Hailed by The New York Times as “cutting edge,” the internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and an ardent commitment to Detroit. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the institution. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the DSO’s 12th Music Director, endowed by the Kresge Foundation, in 2008. Acclaimed conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik serves as Principal Pops Conductor while celebrated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the Detroit community, the DSO’s performance schedule includes Classical, Pops, Jazz, Young People’s, and Neighborhood concerts, and collaborations with high profile artists from Steven Spielberg to Kid Rock. A commitment to broadcast innovation began in 1922 when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series, which now reaches tens of thousands of children with the new Classroom Edition expansion. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.