Daniel Alexander Slatkin (born May 16, 1994) is an American composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and music producer known for his concert works, film scores, and television scores.[1][2] At the age of 23, Slatkin's feature film debut was premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre,[3] and five months later had his symphony orchestra debut with a concert work commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.[4]
Daniel Slatkin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to conductor and 7-time Grammy winner, Leonard Slatkin and Linda Hohenfeld, on May 16, 1994.[5][6] The Slatkins are part of a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His grandfather, violinist and conductor Felix Slatkin, was the founder of the Hollywood String Quartet and concertmaster of the Twentieth Century Fox Orchestra.[7] His grandmother, Eleanor Aller, was the cellist of the quartet and principal cellist of the Warner Brothers Orchestra, becoming the first female to hold a principal chair in a Hollywood studio orchestra.[8]
Slatkin was educated in the concert hall. He traveled throughout his youth while training classically in piano, watching his father perform on stages all over the world. Slatkin attended Brooks School where he began forming his musical voice, and during this time had his first professional performance as a pianist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17.[9][10] After high school, Slatkin attended the University of Southern California,[11] studying business, music and film.
Slatkin has followed in the footsteps of his family, achieving acclaim at an unusually young age. Slatkin conducted his first orchestral commission, In Fields, at age 23 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, his works have been performed and commissioned by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, National Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.[12] His recorded music has been broadcast internationally, with his most recent recording, In Fields, having been released in February 2022.[13]
Slatkin's debut feature film, Making Fun: The Story of Funko, was premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and his film music has since been heard around the world, from Netflix to ESPN to PBS to Amazon Prime to festivals, where his work has been nominated for best score.[14]
In 2022, Slatkin wrote and recorded the score for a feature film with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Max M. Fisher Music Center.[15][16] The film, about the Detroit bankruptcy, won the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film.[17] That same year, his score for independent feature film Neon Bleed won two Best Score awards, with the selections made by Roger Taylor of Queen and Alan Parsons.[18][19]
Slatkin resides in Los Angeles with his wife and business partner, Bridget Slatkin.
