His grandfather, violinist and conductor Felix Slatkin, was the founder of the Hollywood String Quartet and concertmaster of the Twentieth Century Fox Orchestra.

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.

[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.

[18][19] On September 27th, 2024, Slatkin's orchestral work, Voyager 130, received its world premiere with the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland.

[20] One month later, Slatkin conducted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Grand Slam Fanfare, in recognition of his father's 80th birthday and their mutual love of baseball.