DSO’s Slatkin OK after surgery | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

DSO’s Slatkin OK after surgery
By Mark Stryker
Free Press Staff Writer

Detroit Symphony Orchestra music director Leonard Slatkin is resting in a hospital in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, after undergoing an angioplasty and stent procedure on Sunday to unblock a clogged artery following a heart attack.

Speaking via e-mail today from his hospital bed, Slatkin, 65, said he had experienced chest pains during the week before a concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic but dismissed them as indigestion.

“At the Sunday concert, I started having trouble with chest pain and I was sweating more than usual,” said Slatkin. “Again, I thought it would go away but it stuck around. I sort of collapsed in the dressing room and a medical team from the hall was sent in. Five minutes later I was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.”

Slatkin said he felt lucky to be alive: “I was supposed to be on a plane to Prague that night and it is very possible that I might not have survived that long.”

Slatkin, who will remain in the hospital until the end of the week, has canceled scheduled appearances in Prague this week and with the Pittsburgh Symphony next week. Slatkin is scheduled to conduct the DSO in performances on Nov. 19-21 and 27-29. Elizabeth Twork, DSO director of public relations, said there are no plans for him to withdraw from his Detroit concerts, but the orchestra was also making contingency plans with other conductors just in case Slatkin is unable to perform.