Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

In the 2019-20 season, he will celebrate his 75th birthday year with several of the orchestras he has led over the course of his 50-year career, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, DSO, and ONL. Other highlights include return engagements with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony in Dublin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, and Würth Philharmonic in Künzelsau, Germany; and three weeks in Spain conducting orchestras in Castile-León, Bilbao, and the Balearic Islands.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 33 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninoff, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017.

Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBCSO); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland. For more information, visit leonardslatkin.com.

Jader Bignamini was named the DSO's new Music Director in January 2020. His first season in the role will be 2020-2021, during which he'll conduct three Classical Series programs.

When Jader was nine years old, he became fascinated by the cover of one of his brother’s books. It was a photo of a boy playing what he thought to be a flute, and Jader became determined to play the same instrument. The only problem was that the photo featured a boy playing a clarinet. Jader may not have recognized all the instruments, but that image was the spark that ignited a lifelong love of music and a passion for performing, first as a musician with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan (clarinet, not flute), and later as the group’s resident conductor.

Jader studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory. He was drawn to operatic arias, captivated by the power and complexity of symphonic music in masterpieces by legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky. For the Crema, Italy native, it was thrilling to explore that complexity, and to puzzle out the role that each instrument played in making that larger-than-life sound. Even as a young musician, the seeds of a future conductor were present. As a teenager, he would “practice” conducting in room at night with a chopstick from a Chinese restaurant. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival. 

In the years since, Jader has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras in venues across the globe. His 2019-2020 season includes debuts with the Toronto, Houston, and Dallas symphonies; Minnesota Orchestra; Canadian Opera Company conducting Aida; Bayerische Staatsoper conducting La Traviata; and a return engagement with Stadttheater Klagenfurt conducting Eugene Onegin. He continues to tour with soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yusif Eyvasov.

Other recent engagements include debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera conducting Madama Butterfly; La Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt conducting La forza del destino and Santa Fe Opera conducting La Bohème; Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Turandot at Teatro Filharmonica; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; and La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma. Memorable engagements for Jader have included working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra.

Jader’s passion and enthusiasm are infectious. And his warmth and joyful spirit animate an engaging personality as prodigious as his musical talent. When Jader leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.

A jazz aficionado and amateur chef, Jader is excited to immerse himself in Detroit’s rich jazz scene and to explore his new second city with his wife Lidia—also a clarinetist—and their two children, who play trumpet and trombone. But above all, he can’t wait to make more extraordinary music with the DSO musicians he has already established close relationships with. It’s an opportunity that, like the picture on the cover of a book that once caught his attention as a boy, was love at first sight.

For more, visit dso.org/jader and jaderbignamini.it.

Known for his beautiful sound and expressive playing, Ralph Skiano was appointed principal clarinetist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2014 after having served in the same position in the Richmond Symphony and the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also appeared as guest principal clarinetist of the Seattle Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Ralph has been involved in numerous music festivals, including the Mainly Mozart Festival, The Peninsula Music Festival, the Britt Music Festival, Festival Lyrique-en-Mer, and the Tanglewood Music Center. As a soloist, he has been featured with ensembles in the United States, France, Germany, and Switzerland. In 2010, Ralph was a guest artist at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium and he was a featured soloist with the Baton Rouge Symphony at the 2014 International Clarinet Association Convention. Ralph appeared as a soloist several times with the Richmond Symphony, most notably performing Concerti by Mozart, Weber, and Copland. He made his Detroit solo debut with the DSO in March of 2015, performing Mozart's Concerto for Clarinet.

Ralph has served on the faculty of the schools of music at James Madison University and the College of William and Mary, and has presented masterclasses at UVA, Towson University, Louisiana State University, California State University Northridge, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, and the University of Maryland.

Under the guidance of Richard Hawley, Ralph completed his BM at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2002.

In 2014, Scott Strong was named Third Horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He was born into a family of musicians in Iowa, and raised in the Dallas, Texas, area. He received his undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University, and completed his graduate studies at Rice University before joining the Louisiana Philharmonic. Scott is an active participant in many festivals, and has held positions in the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet orchestras, as well as the San Antonio Symphony. Scott has studied with Gregory Hustis and William VerMeulen.

Hannah Hammel is the recently appointed Principal Flute of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the DSO, she held the position of Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019.

As an orchestral musician, Hannah has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Richmond Symphony, and New World Symphony. Hannah has spent summers performing at festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Round Top Music Festival.

An active solo flutist, Hannah has won first place in the 2016 National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, 2016 Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Competition, the 2015 Atlanta Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the 2014 National Flute Association Orchestral Excerpt Competition, 2013 Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Division Competition and second place in the 2013 Mid-South Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition among others.

A native of Richmond, VA, Hannah began studying the flute with her mother, Alice Hammel. She holds a BM in flute performance and a minor in music theory from The Oberlin Conservatory (2015) where she studied with Alexa Still. She graduated with her MM in flute performance in 2017 from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music as a student of Leone Buyse.