Conductor Leonard Slatkin to Receive CIM’s 2026 Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts Degree

CIM announced that acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin has been selected to receive its 2026 Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts (HDMA) degree. He will accept the award and deliver the keynote address at CIM’s Commencement proceedings Saturday, May 16 in Kulas Hall. 

While he has received awards from other schools, the HDMA from CIM is “particularly special,” Slatkin said, noting his nine-year tenure as director of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival and many guest appearances with the CIM Orchestra.  

Moreover, he added, because CIM is “helping to infuse our culture landscape in a positive way…It is important that I use the platforms of both speech and music to help young people understand what they are about to encounter.”  

Slatkin is among the most qualified to pass on such wisdom. For 60 years, he’s been a dominant presence on the podium and in the recording studio, transforming the orchestras of St. Louis, Detroit, and Washington, DC from respected regional ensembles into national and even international powerhouses. In Detroit, he still serves as music director laureate.  

Cleveland was Slatkin’s musical home from 1990 to 1999. During that time, he served as the first and highly popular music director of the Blossom Festival, leading and designing many successful seasons at Blossom Music Center, summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra.  

He’s also enjoyed significant tenures overseas, leading and frequently recording with such distinguished ensembles as the BBC Symphony and France’s Orchestre National de Lyon, among many others. He credits his parents, both of whom were professional musicians, for grounding him in “a multitude of musical languages.”  

“It has been a great life so far, with only a few bumps along the road,” Slatkin said. “I am proud of what I have been able to do for American composers and music in general.” 

As an HDMA recipient, Slatkin will be in rare company. CIM’s Commencement Dignitary Selection Committee – a group composed of faculty, staff, and Trustees – has granted honorary degrees almost every year since 1965, and the list of previous recipients includes Pierre Boulez, Elly Ameling, Marian Anderson, and Darius Milhaud. Last year’s recipient was Joseph Conyers, principal bass of The Philadelphia Orchestra.  

At the same ceremony with Slatkin in May, CIM will also grant a Distinguished Alumni Award to conductor-pianist Kathryn Harsha (MM ’99) and an Alumni Achievement Award to cellist Rebecca Shasberger (MM ’17, Robinson), artistic and executive director of Renovare Music.  

The Distinguished Alumni Award, given annually, honors alumni who have attained the highest stature in their field, while the Alumni Achievement Award recognizes significant contributions to the profession.  

Harsha is a highly regarded conductor, pianist, and teacher who has led orchestras and choruses throughout the U.S. and Europe. In Northeast Ohio, she has led concerts at Severance Music Center and has been music director of the Sing Out! for Cleveland Rape Crisis Center Benefit since 2002, where the “Visionary Voice” award was named in her honor. She currently serves as artistic director of Pro Coro Alexandria and Alexandria Choral Society.  

Shasberger is the founder of Renovare Music, a thriving Cleveland-based nonprofit that provides concerts, music lessons, and training in songwriting to people at the margins of society. She has presented solo performances and concerti with orchestras from California to New York, in Canada, China, and across Europe. Her chamber music performances and festival appearances have taken her across North America and been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Slatkin said he looks forward to addressing students directly. Although he has enjoyed a long career conducting and hosting a radio program called “The Slatkin Shuffle,” rarely has he had the opportunity to inform young artists such as those at CIM about the profession they’re entering.  

His advice on this occasion? “School will seem like a walk in the park,” he said. “I have always felt that individuality is perhaps the most important aspect of musicianship.” 

Individuality certainly has been key for Slatkin himself. Wherever his career has taken him, he has set himself apart, such that for several decades now, he has been a household name in music-loving cities across the nation and globe.  

For that reason, the choice of Slatkin for the 2026 HDMA practically made itself.  



“It’s hard to imagine a worthier candidate for our HDMA than Leonard Slatkin,” said Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost.  

“As a conductor, composer, pianist, and communicator, Leonard has been at the forefront of innovation throughout his long career, and a welcome guest at CIM every time he has visited. We are proud to count him as a friend and grant him our most hallowed honor.”