- Marin Alsop
-
Marin Alsop (born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra.[1]
Contents
Early life and education
Alsop was born in New York City to professional musician parents. She attended Yale University, but later transferred to the Juilliard School, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in violin. She founded the string ensemble String Fever in 1981. She won the Koussevitzky Prize as outstanding student conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1989.
Early career
Alsop has been music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, since 1992. The festival specializes in contemporary orchestral music. From 1993 to 2005, she was first principal conductor and then music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She is now the orchestra's conductor laureate. Alsop has also served as music director of the Eugene Symphony in Eugene, Oregon. She was associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony in Richmond, Virginia, from 1988 to 1990. On September 20, 2005, Alsop became the first conductor ever to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
In September 2007, Alsop was appointed the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), having been named Music Director Designate for the 2006-07 concert season. Her selection is noteworthy because Alsop is the first woman to hold this position with a major American orchestra. The initial controversy surrounding her choice stemmed from significant resistance from the orchestra's players, who insisted they had not had enough voice in the search process. The orchestra and Alsop met after the announcement and apparently smoothed over some of their differences.[2][3] In June 2009, the orchestra announced the extension of her contract for another five years, through August 2015.[4]
Since she became music director, Alsop's initiatives with the Baltimore Symphony have included the "Webumentary Film Series" and a free iTunes podcast, "Clueless About Classical." She recently announced a new educational program called "OrchKids", in which underprivileged Baltimore children will receive free music instruction, based on Venezuela's El Sistema program. Alsop was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.[5]
Europe
In the UK, Alsop has served as principal guest conductor with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and with the City of London Sinfonia.[6] Alsop became Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2002 and served in the post until 2008.[7] She was voted Gramophone magazine's Artist of the Year in 2003 and won the Royal Philharmonic Society's conductor's award in the same season. In April 2007, Alsop was one of eight conductors of British orchestras to endorse the 10-year classical music outreach manifesto, "Building on Excellence: Orchestras for the 21st Century", to increase the presence of classical music in the UK, including giving free entry to all British schoolchildren to a classical music concert.[8] Alsop received an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Bournemouth University on 7 November 2007.
Alsop is noted for her advocacy and interpretations of American music, but is establishing her reputation in the core symphonic repertory as well. She is the first woman to record the complete cycle of symphonies by Brahms (recorded with the London Philharmonic for Naxos Records). She is also the first woman conductor to have recorded a Mahler symphony with a major orchestra, the Fifth Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra on the LSO Live label.
During the final round of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition session 2010 for piano, she conducted the National Orchestra of Belgium, accompanying the twelve finalists in Target by the South Korean composer Jeon Minje, winner of the 2009 composition competition, and in the concerto of their choice.
In January 2011 Alsop was appointed as an Artist in Residence at London's Southbank Centre for the 2011-12 season. [9]
Personal life
Since 1990, Alsop's partner has been Kristin Jurkscheit, a horn player. They have a son and Alsop has spoken publicly about her family.[10][11][12] While Alsop was conducting the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, of which her partner was a member, their relationship provoked controversy, though Alsop replied that the relationship predated her appointment to lead the orchestra and had no bearing on her job performance.[13]
Discography
Marin Alsop conducted her first recording in 2000 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a selection of works by Samuel Barber, which was released as part of the American Classics Series on Naxos. This disc was followed by four more released between 2001–2004 dedicated to the works of Samuel Barber.
In 2003, Marin Alsop released her first disc of Leonard Bernstein which she recorded with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This featured the Symphonic Suite from the film On The Waterfront as well as Three Dance Episodes from On The Town. Following this in 2005, Alsop’s fully staged production of Bernstein’s Candide with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was nominated for an Emmy Award (DVD: PBS Great Performances/ Image Entertainment). In June 2006, during her tenure as music director designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Alsop led the Orchestra and violinist Joshua Bell in John Corigliano’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, The Red Violin, recorded by Sony Classics and released in September 2007. Also in her designate term, she conducted the Orchestra in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, an acclaimed performance that became the Orchestra’s first-ever live-recording release on iTunes and quickly became the number one classical download.
One of Alsop’s first projects as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was the Dvořák symphonic cycle, recorded on the Naxos label. The first disc in the series, featuring Symphony No. 9, From the New World, and Symphonic Variations, was released in February 2008. Of this release, BBC Music Magazine said, “It is rare to be able to say that a performance forces one to listen to a work anew, but this is exactly what Alsop’s reading achieves.” The disk was also nominated for BBC Music Magazine’s 2008 Album of the Year.
Other highlights of Alsop’s recording collaboration with Naxos include a Brahms symphony cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and an ongoing series of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra recordings, which include Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and the symphonies of Kurt Weill.
In 2009, Marin released a critically acclaimed recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album and in 2010, Marin Alsop‘s recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and soloist Colin Currie(2008) won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
Other recent releases include Dvorak symphonies 7 & 8 with Baltimore, “Nixon in China” and works by Harris, Copland and Barber, all on the Naxos label.
References
- ^ Maria Eugênia de Menezes (11 February 2011). "Osesp anuncia nova regente". O Estado de S. Paulo. http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/arteelazer,osesp-anuncia-nova-regente-,678452,0.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
- ^ Lev Grossman (25 July 2005). "A Symphony of Her Own". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1086150,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ Daniel J. Wakin (9 October 2005). "Best Wishes on Your Job. Now Get Out.". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/arts/music/09waki.html?ei=5090&en=3c391a6c007e936e&ex=1286510400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ Anne Midgette (5 June 2009). "Baltimore Symphony Extends Music Director's Contract to 2015". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/04/AR2009060404314.html. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ Geoffrey Norris (22 March 2001). "Beating time and space on the way to the top". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/03/22/bmarin22.xml. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ "'I don’t need to be liked, I’d rather be respected'". The Times. 9 February 2007. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1354073.ece. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
- ^ Charlotte Higgins (26 April 2007). "Orchestras urge free concerts for children". The Guardian. http://education.guardian.co.uk/artinschools/story/0,,2066195,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
- ^ Anon (2011). "Southbank Centre Classical Music 2011_12 Season". Southbank Centre Press Release notes. http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/sites/default/files/press_releases/Southbank_Centre_Classical_Music_2011_12_Season_-_28_Jan_2011.pdf. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
- ^ Dalton, Joseph (August 10, 2008). "Marin Alsop to conduct Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC". Times Union.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (November 11, 2007). "A One-Woman Vanguard". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/arts/music/11tomm.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ Smith, Tim (June 11, 2010). "Alsop cements relationship with BSO, community". The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ Wakin, Daniel J. (October 9, 2005). "Best Wishes on Your Job. Now Get Out.". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/arts/music/09waki.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
External links
- www.marinalsop.com – her official website
- Baltimore Symphony Orchestra homepage
- Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music homepage
- MacArthur Fellowship biography page
- biography and discography at Naxos.com
- Alsop on Music (NPR)
- NewMusicBox cover: Marin Alsop in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, April 25, 2006 (includes video)
- Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition official website
- Classical Archives Interview about Cabrillo Festival
- Classical Archives Interview about Bernstein Mass
Preceded by
Philippe Entremont (Denver Symphony)Music Director, Colorado Symphony Orchestra
1993-2005Succeeded by
Jeffrey KahanePreceded by
Yakov KreizbergPrincipal Conductor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
2002-2008Succeeded by
Kirill KarabitsGustav Strube (1917) · George Siemonn (1930) · Ernest Schelling (1935) · Werner Janssen (1937) · Howard Barlow (1939) · Reginald Stewart (1942) · Massimo Freccia (1952) · Peter Herman Adler (1959) · Sergiu Comissiona (1969) · David Zinman (1985) · Yuri Temirkanov (1999) · Marin Alsop (2007)
Categories:- 1956 births
- Living people
- American conductors (music)
- Women conductors (music)
- MacArthur Fellows
- Lesbian musicians
- LGBT musicians from the United States
- Peabody Institute faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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