SEATTLE YOUTH SYPMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S
Leonard Slatkin to conduct a Seattle Youth Symphony rehearsal

Seattle, WA – On Saturday afternoon, March 21 at 12:00 p.m. the internationally acclaimed Conductor and Music Director Leonard Slatkin will conduct the Seattle Youth Symphony in a special guest conductor rehearsal session at Meany Hall on the campus of the University of Washington. The one hundred twenty members of the Seattle Youth Symphony will work with Maestro Slatkin for 90 minutes on one of the most challenging large-orchestral works in the symphonic repertoire; Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Maestro Slatkin’s rehearsal session with the organization is the most recent in a long list of distinguished guest conductor visits to the Seattle Youth Symphony, which is America’s largest Youth Orchestra training program.

"The Seattle Youth Symphony works to provide talented young musicians in the Puget Sound region with the opportunity to study, rehearse and perform under the tutelage of the most distinguished artists from all over the world. This is an experience of a lifetime for our students,” says SYSO Music Director Stephen Rogers Radcliffe. “No other music training program in the region offers this type of opportunity. Our musicians will be at the edge of their seats.”

Leonard Slatkin serves as the Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Principal Guest Conductor of both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pittsburg Symphony. Mr. Slatkin has regularly appeared over the last two decades with the world's major orchestras and opera companies, including the New York and Berlin Philharmonics, the Chicago Symphony, and Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera.

Leonard Slatkin’s work with the Seattle Youth Symphony coincides with Maestro Slatkin’s appearances as Guest Conductor of the Seattle Symphony, which coordinated this special educational activity. Mr. Slatkin will be in Seattle to lead Seattle Symphony in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique with performances March 19 – 22 at Benaroya Hall as part of the UBS Masterworks series. The performances also include Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D major with guest violinist Julian Rachlin, and Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. In addition to these performances, Slatkin will participate in Seattle Symphony’s American Conductors Project, which brings together many of the nation’s leading conductors for a series of free panel discussions about the role of the American music director. As part of this project, Slatkin will give a free discussion in Soundbridge at Benaroya Hall on Wednesday, March 18, from 6-7pm, and will also give a post-concert discussion following the performance on Saturday, March 21, free to ticketholders. For more information on Mr. Slatkin’s visit with the Seattle Symphony please visit the Seattle Symphony website at www.seattlesymphony.org or call at (206) 215-4747.

The rehearsal is not open to the public; for press opportunities please contact Lidia Lesniewska at (206) 362-2300.