We need music to restore the human spirit

I don't really think about retiring. I will retire just before people start saying, 'I knew Leonard Slatkin when he conducted well.

The conductor is the artistic leader and sometimes cultural arbiter of his or her community. It is their leadership that is looked to and should anything go wrong, they are the persons taking most of the heat.

I use my hands like a sculptor, to mold and shape the sound I want, to clarify.

Growing up in Hollywood, like I did, I have a passion and a love for the movies, so I go to the cinema all the time.

People know Detroit for the cars, but the suburban areas of the city are really beautiful. It's much more inhabitable than people think. Many believe it's like Berlin at the end of World War II.

I'm not particularly lucid after a concert. I'm not very lucid before, either.