LEONARD SLATKIN - HOME AGAIN.

Byline: - Evan Henderson

Even before his current engagement was announced, Leonard Slatkin's date with the Hollywood Bowl was - if you believe in fate - preordained.

Slatkin was a regular Bowl-goer as a child. Growing up in Beverly Hills, he would take the bus up La Brea Avenue, get off at Highland Avenue and walk up to the Bowl. Sitting up in the cheap seats, he would sneak down at intermission. As a teenager, he once applied for a job as an usher but, alas, was denied.

The connection goes deeper. But for an event at the Bowl more than a half-century ago, Leonard Slatkin might not be here to tell the tale.

His parents became acquainted during a competition at the Bowl for young musicians. Felix Slatkin, a hotshot violinist from St. Louis, arrived with buzz already surrounding his participation. Eleanor Aller, a cellist, was convinced the concert was rigged for Slatkin to win.

``She was furious, and she wanted to confront him,'' says Leonard Slatkin, who kicks off a two-year rotating guest-conducting position at the Hollywood Bowl this summer. ``Her father, who was also a distinguished musician, said, `Why don't we go to the concert and hear for ourselves.' They did, and she realized that even if the event was rigged, he might have won anyway. (My father) tried to console her. They went out, and two years later they were married.''

Go ahead and cue that cliche about the two going on to make beautiful music together. In addition to being founding members of the Hollywood String Quartet, the elder Slatkins worked for the film studios (Felix at Fox, Eleanor at Warner Bros.) and interacted with the pop recording industry as well.

``The idea was that music was heard in our house - all styles and all varieties. It was never an idea of one being better. Each style had its good and its bad,'' says Slatkin. ``To this day, I listen to a bit of everything. Having an 11-year-old son is forcing me to listen to a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise listen to.''

Such as?

``I could do without Linkin Park,'' returns Slatkin, 60. ``But he's fascinated with Coldplay, and I like them a lot.''

Chris Martin and company won't be on the program, but there will be a certain amount of musical dabbling during the two summers that Slatkin spends at the Bowl. Sporting the business card-bulging title of principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Slatkin will kick off the Bowl's Gershwin celebration July 12 and return at the end of August to lead a program of Ives and Mahler (Aug. 23), a Bach program with the Paul Taylor Dance Company (Aug. 25), a Glinka, Shostakovich and Brahms evening (Aug. 30) and a Latin American-themed event on Sept. 1.

Some of the selections had been chosen before Slatkin's appointment was announced. But he had input into the program as well and will have even more say about the summer of 2006.

``I'm hoping to do more with those two video screens,'' says Slatkin. ``Just watching the players and the conductor gets boring after awhile. I'll be actively involved in helping to adjust the sound system. We're one year in with the new shell, and everybody's not yet on the same page as to how it should sound.''

This is hardly Slatkin's maiden bow at the Bowl. During a career that has encompassed nine years as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, a stint as the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and appearances with international orchestras worldwide, Slatkin has taken the Bowl stage an estimated 20 times. The first time, he was supposed to work with Doc Severinsen, only to have the trumpeter cancel his engagement following a fight with management.

``I remember being rained out once, which is a very rare occurrence,'' says Slatkin. ``On another occasion, I remember we were doing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and of course everybody knew what we were playing. After those first four notes, a big cheer came up from the audience.''

A violinist since age 3, Slatkin went on to play piano and viola. For a brief period during his late teens, he said, he toyed with the idea of leaving music altogether and teaching English.

``My father had died, and I just didn't know what I wanted to do,'' says Slatkin. ``Gradually people said, 'Your dad's gone now - maybe you might consider getting back into music.' Gradually, I did, and I started to take a serious interest in conducting.''

The world of music can be grateful that he did return, says John Mauceri, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra's principal conductor, who says Slatkin and his family should be considered an American musical dynasty.

``He grew up in Los Angeles and was exposed to all kinds of music, which is really what L.A. stands for, in my mind,'' says Mauceri. ``The idea that Leonard, who is one of the greatest conductors America has ever produced, is coming to be principal guest conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic is the most perfect choice that I can think of.''

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no caption (Leonard Slatkin)