Not very long ago – last season, to be specific – the Detroit Symphony Orchestra looked to be on its last legs, deep in the throes of a seemingly endless strike, and hemorrhaging money. Since April, however, the strike has been settled, the DSO has resumed regular performances, and, though the orchestra’s endowment is still a little short, the future’s much brighter now than it was in the spring. Emblematic of this shift is last week’s announcement that the DSO has resigned its music director, Leonard Slatkin, to a new three-year contract that takes the director through the 2015-16 season. (FULL STORY: Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press)