Marin Alsop
In 2007, Marin Alsop became music director of the Baltimore Symphony, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She was named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive the award. Between performances, she appears as an occasional guest on Weekend Edition Saturday and as a commentator for NPR.org's Marin Alsop on Music column.
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The Baltimore Symphony conductor chooses a season of music built on the belief that understanding where we come from, and celebrating diversity, can create a sense of continuity, history and belonging — not to mention some great concerts. -
Marin Alsop says she can't remember the first time she met composer Jennifer Higdon, and both simply believe they've always known each other. Oddly, the two women have never had a conversation about gender in the classical-music world — that is, until now. Higdon's Violin Concerto is set to be performed by Hilary Hahn next month.
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Conductor Marin Alsop examines the rarely heard music from early in Aaron Copland's career. With an ear toward Copland's bold and sometimes jazzy rhythms, Alsop says that listeners can hear hints of the wide expanses that would later open up in music such as Appalachian Spring. -
Leonard Bernstein wrote his Mass to memorialize John F. Kennedy. But conductor Marin Alsop says that the dizzyingly eclectic work reveals more about its composer than anyone else. -
Marin Alsop, meet Robert Schumann. The Baltimore Symphony conductor reconnects with the composer's symphonies, probing for a deeper meaning within this widely performed but still misunderstood music. The Symphony No. 2, Alsop says, traces Schumann's emotional frailty. -
Armed with a team of forensic specialists and a full orchestra, Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop investigates the deafness and demise of one of the greatest composers of all time, in concerts called "CSI Beethoven."
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Every young composer searches for a unique voice. Conductor Marin Alsop says Bela Bartok found his in the hills and villages of rural Hungary. The songs he collected from peasants infused the spirit of his music.
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Johannes Brahms was stymied by the shadow of Beethoven. It took him over 20 years to write his first symphony, but conductor Marin Alsop says it was worth the wait. Her personal connection to Brahms led her to record all four of his symphonies with the London Philharmonic.
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For centuries, storytellers of the Middle East have been retelling the tales of Sinbad and Aladdin. But the first teller of those tales, according to legend, was a young bride named Scheherazade. Rimsky-Korsakov spins the tale in music. Marin Alsop conducts.
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The alien harmonies and jagged rhythms of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring signalled the birth of modern music in 1913. Conductor Marin Alsop says the rambunctious score still sounds fresh today.
