Made to Measure

In bringing Leonard Slatkin on board as its new music director, the DSO found a harmonious fit: a solid conductor who can also drum up support for the orchestra

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Slatkin conducting students at Indiana University. Music education is a priority with him.

photograph courtesy of the detroit symphony orchestra

Slatkin also sensed that connective spark with the musicians. “Even in this very short time, we somehow found a common ground. Onstage, I felt more like a collaborator than a conductor.”

A non-musical talent undoubtedly also played a role in Slatkin’s hiring: his deftness at fundraising, a task some music directors, such as Daniel Barenboim, who served at the helm of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, loathe. But erasing the deficit and turning red ink into black is a vital quality, one that Slatkin relishes as the orchestra’s ambassador.

“I like going out and explaining who we are, what we stand for, why they should be considering financial support, and what it means to the community,” he says. “It’s my orchestra, so I’m going to do everything I can to ensure not just its survival, but its artistic health.”

Those words are like music to Parsons’ ears. “The fact that Leonard is so comfortable talking to donors is just a joy for me. Fundraising isn’t like conducting a concert, where you have automatic satisfaction. It’s a process; it’s time-consuming. It’s about cultivating relationships, and Leonard is good at it.”

Grand Plans & Musical Chairs

So, when he’s not waving his baton, Slatkin will be out pressing the flesh and schmoozing the area’s movers and shakers. In fact, the conductor plans to be so hands-on in Detroit that his fingerprints will be not only all over Orchestra Hall, but on the entire community. Already, he’s been filming a 12-part PBS series with the orchestra, the first installment of which was to air on Channel 56 in November.

Music education has always been a priority with Slatkin, and he’s going to be active in the Young People’s Concerts, as well as working closely with the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra for young musicians. He made his own arrangement of Christmas carols for piano, which will be performed by area student pianists, with Slatkin at the helm of the Civic Orchestra, at 11 a.m. on Dec. 13. In January, banjo player Béla Fleck and double bassist Edgar Meyer will perform with Slatkin in a Young People’s Concert. Slatkin would like to lure other big-name artists, such as Joshua Bell or Yo-Yo Ma, to play for young folks, too.

“You’re actually selling tickets to parents, because the kids love it,” he says. “We’re providing a framework for young people that will see results 20 years from now as the next generation of concertgoers.”

Slatkin vows to make CDs to get the DSO’s name back out in the global marketplace. “Oh, we will be recording,” he says. “I would say that by the time I arrive in December, we should be able to announce an actual CD recording.”

It’s hard for Slatkin to curb his enthusiasm. He doesn’t pause before adding: “We will be back in the media market, big time. And we haven’t scratched the surface of Internet broadcasts and other ways to get the orchestra seen and heard by a national and international audience.”

Those are lofty goals, but some of the conductor’s plans are simpler, such as playing a game of musical chairs in the arrangement of the orchestra.

“I love the hall, but I think we can maximize both the listening and the visual experience for the audience,” he says. “It may not happen in December, but I’d like the cello and viola sections to switch — the cellos on the inside of the orchestra, and the violas on the outside. I want to get the low brass away from the corner on the right; because they’re at an angle, you get a slap effect. I want to move the harps out from the back up to the front, near the violin section. You’ll hear them better and you’ll also be able to see them.

“I’m toying with the idea of using risers, to raise the winds above the strings, so there’s more balance of the ensemble. It’ll take one or two years to experiment to see what’s the optimal setup.”

Orchestra Hall, the fabulously restored 1919 Beaux Arts auditorium, is renowned for its exquisite acoustics, but Slatkin believes the way the hall actually looks also accounts for the way the orchestra sounds, a phenomenon called psychoacoustics.

“If you have a hall that’s mostly white, with white walls, the sound is going to seem bright, just because of what you’re seeing,” he explains. “But here, you have deep, rich wood that offsets the lighter elements, and that contributes to the kind of sound the orchestra makes. This orchestra has a specific sonic profile: Its sound is dark and rich. It has a lushness in the strings and brilliance in the brass.”

As much as Slatkin likes technology, he’s old-fashioned in some respects. Projection screens to complement the music are becoming more common in the concert hall, but he’s dead-set against them. He doesn’t think it’s the role of a conductor to suggest, much less dictate, what the audience should feel when the orchestra plays.

“We’re exactly the opposite of a visual art. Our job is to be abstract,” he says. “We’re bringing music to life, and listeners can take away what they want from it. I don’t think we make enough out of teaching imagination. It’s being eroded from our culture.”

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