Leonard Slatkin, born September 1, 1944, blazed trails where none had gone before.
He was the first non-British chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the first (after Sir Charles Mackerras, who was UK resident) to deliver the last night speech. He insisted that the Proms should go on in the thick of the 9/11 attack and, as an American, adapted a programme that reflected the event.
He made his name with the St Louis Symphony in the 1980s, moving on to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC and then to the Detroit Symphony, which he raised from near-extinction.
His last post as music director was with the Orchestre National de Lyon in France, where the restaurants are Michelin starred and the living is easy.
Massively recorded, he counts a set of Vaughan Williams symphonies among his many triumphs.
Leonard is one of the best audience communicators, a maestro of infinite practicality and without excess vanity. In a generation that included James Levine, Andre Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas and Dennis Russell Davies, he has been an outstanding ambassador for his country’s music and its musicians. He is also a thoroughly decent human being.
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