Leonard Slatkin Becomes Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon, September 2017

On September 1, 2017, Leonard Slatkin will become Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre national de Lyon (ONL). The recruitment process for a new music director has been launched.

Slatkin and the Orchestre national de Lyon have agreed to continue their collaboration beyond August 31, 2017. From this date, Slatkin will continue to serve the ONL as Directeur Musical Honoraire - an honorary title awarded for the first time by the ONL - and will continue regular collaborations with the orchestra's musicians for at
least 3 additional seasons.

Since arriving in Lyon, with support from CEO JeanMarc Bador, the staff and the musicians, Slatkin has created unprecedented artistic vitality and influence around the ONL. In recent years, Auditorium attendance has increased by almost 40 percent, reaching 220,000 spectators in 2015 through innovative programming and attention paid to educational programs, cultural activities and new audiences.

Recording agreements led in particular to the ongoing release of a new collection of 11 discs of the works of Maurice Ravel on the Naxos label. International tours
opened doors to prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, the NCPA in Beijing, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie de Paris.

"Leonard Slatkin's enthusiastic presence during all these years has transformed the orchestra and created the conditions for artistic innovation and community projects.
His role as ambassador has contributed to the attractiveness of our orchestra and our city. I am grateful to him for having agreed to a smooth transition as we plan for the arrival of a new Music Director at the Orchestre national de Lyon," said Jean-Marc Bador, CEO of the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon.

From 2017 to 2020, Leonard Slatkin will perform regularly with the Orchestre national de Lyon - a minimum of 6 weeks during the 2017/18 season, and 4 weeks during
the following season - enabling the expected completion of the process to recruit a new Music Director by 2018.

"This new deal gives me the opportunity to continue a long-term arrangement with an orchestra I dearly love. The past five seasons have been extraordinarily rewarding. Extensive recording projects, video broadcasts, and outstanding new additions to the
membership of the ONL are among the many recent initiatives and accomplishments. Also, by the end of my tenure as music director, we will have toured on three
continents, thereby increasing the orchestra's international exposure and further developing a worldwide audience. The public in Lyon has responded most favorably to our innovative programming with full houses populated by many young people. The future for this orchestra is bright indeed and I'm proud to be part of it. I fully expect to be busy guest conducting, writing books and music, and engaging in other activities both personal and professional" said Leonard Slatkin.

Slatkin's recently announced final season as Music Director reflects the success of his collaboration with the ONL: the performance of major works from the symphonic repertoire such as the Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, Verdi's Requiem, the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz, Harmonielehre by John Adams, and the 1st Symphony of Elgar; a four-week Russian Festival which features Slatkin conducting the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Youri Temirkanov leading the St. Petersburg Orchestra, and performances by the Borodin Quartet, pianists Grigori Sokolov, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitry Masleev, and others; the presence of associated artists and composers Hilary Hahn, Ton Koopman, John Adams and Guillaume Connesson; and prestigious partners including Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Cameron Carpenter, Emmanuel Pahud, Khatia Buniatishvili, Jeff Mills and Nelson Freire.

During the next 12 months, the Orchestre national de Lyon will appear three times at the Philharmonie de Paris; it will tour Japan, performing seven concerts including one at Suntory Hall on June 30, 2016 with Renaud Capuçon; it will also tour the United States, performing nine concerts which will include Carnegie Hall on February 20, 2017 with Renée Fleming in Ravel's Shéherazade and Thomas Hampson reciting the American premiere of Antar (incidental music by Ravel/RimskyKorsakov); and finally, it will tour Germany and The Netherlands in ten concerts with Hilary Hahn.

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