Q & A with Leondard Slatkin

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

As music director for the National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin is revered for his artistic building of the Washington, D.C., orchestra.

As an advocate of music education and American musicians, he founded and directs the National Conducting Institute and raised funds to keep alive the Washington, D.C., Youth Orchestra.

His discography includes more than 100 recordings. Five of them Grammy Award winners and 50 others that were nominated for Grammys. He's also been criticized for presenting flashy contemporary music and publicity stunts.

But when it comes to NSO's American Residencies programs, Slatkin is devoted. On Tuesday the NSO's American Residency in Nevada will begin 50 educational, performance and outreach programs in Reno and Las Vegas. On Wednesday it will perform at 8 p.m. at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.

Las Vegas Sun: When did you become involved in working with youth?

Leonard Slatkin: When I first got to St. Louis my first duty was the (youth orchestra). But it's been more of watching this erosion of the music programs in the public school system.

Mostly it's about trying to find a way in a different economic time (to explain) why the arts, especially music, is so important.

Sun: So they'll support orchestras in the future.

LS: It's not a question of financial reward. I'm looking at it as part of young people's lives.

Sun: Why is it so important?

LS: The connection to history. I've even tried ... tying music in with history education. Music, because it is abstract, reaches a young person perhaps in a way that no other subject can. Also, it does preserve, in sound, a legacy of culture without using words.

Sun: Classical music is struggling.

LS: The business in general is in a slump, but like in sports, if you do well, it's going to come out of a slump. We're going to come out of this looking at cultures of second- and third-generation Asian-Americans, Hispanics as a target audience.

By leaps and bounds, China today is what Japan was 20 years ago because of growth, and most of those people settle here. I think we're going to see a shift in our audience. And in five years, picking up.

Sun: Why the slump?

LS: It's a lack of education in schools. Classical music is diminishing on radio.

Sun: Do you think younger, crossover artists help draw new listeners?

LS: I'm not so sure. I think they have their fan base and they seem more exclusive to what those artists do, than the genre.

Sun: You're known to be experimental in music and performances.

LS: I have a natural curiosity.

Sun: You also have strong community involvement.

LS: It's part of my persona. There are some who don't like it, especially from a European perspective, but it's part of my job.

Sun: You're leaving the NSO in 2008. What will be your legacy there?

LS: The educational initiatives were important. The way we expanded the residencies. Community involvement.

By the time I leave, it will be a vastly superior orchestra than it was when I arrived.

Sun: What's next for you?

LS: I have nothing in mind. It's so far away.

Sun: Will the NSO continue its youth outreach?

LS: I would hope so, but maybe not. Every board, every group, administration has new ideas.

Sun: After a residency in Anchorage, Alaska, an elementary student said that the NSO is better than Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Van Halen. What do you have to say to that?

LS: We're not necessarily better than Metallica, but we are better than Guns N' Roses.

Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or kristen@lasvegassun.com.