If conductor Marin Alsop's done it, it's probably because someone told her she couldn't.
'When Marin Alsop steps down at the end of August, concluding a Quite Literally Historic 14-year tenure as the first woman to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra — or any major American orchestra, for that matter — she will leave a gap more profound than the space on the podium.
Alsop’s departure returns us to a sad status quo, a square one of sorts, with none of America’s major orchestras (no shade to Buffalo or New Jersey!) being led by women.
“But even more shocking to me is there will be no American leading an American orchestra,” Alsop says during a recent visit backstage at Baltimore’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
We sit there looking at each other in puzzled silence for a few seconds.
What is it we want from conductors and their orchestras? Are we listening for the skillful, collaborative realization of our favorite music? Are we attuned to the negotiation of absence and presence, transparency and interpretation, control and abandon that conducting demands?
Or are we really just looking for a guy flailing his arms, conjuring sound like a god might the weather, a clash of symbols over the clash of cymbals?
“There are all these stereotypes or archetypes that people want,” says Alsop, 64. “They want this maestro mythology. They want a maestro that is inscrutable, or inaccessible, or tyrannical. There are these lingering myths.”
Alsop satisfies exactly none of these stubborn criteria for conducting an orchestra, which is perhaps why her career has been an exercise in exhausting the potential of the word “pioneer.” Owing to her severe allergy to “can’t” and “don’t,” Alsop’s achievements are many and, more often than not, warrant some celebratory disclaimer to the tune of “first woman to [fill in the blank].” . . .
“I think she deserves first and foremost to be recognized for her work, for the actual work,” Moore adds. “The work itself is extraordinary, and it’s distinct from what other people do. So we start from there.”
In that spirit, the BSO has arranged a fitting farewell. The Marin Festival is a multiweek tribute to Alsop’s legacy as a conductor and music director, but also as an advocate for education and access, a mentor for new composers and young conductors, and a force for women gaining leadership roles in classical music. The festival opens Thursday with a virtual celebration of her 13-year music education project, OrchKids.
As part of the festival, WBJC 91.5 FM will air full BSO performances from Alsop’s tenure every Sunday at 1 p.m. through June 13. Alsop will lead two free outdoor performances at Meyerhoff and Strathmore (June 5 and 12, respectively). And she’ll conduct her final concert as BSO music director as part of a live televised gala featuring Renée Fleming and the world premiere of James Lee III’s “Destined Worlds.” The latter caps nearly three dozen commissions Alsop has brought to Baltimore, from such composers as Joan Tower, Anna Clyne, Christopher Rouse, Reena Esmail and Philip Glass.'>>>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/marin-alsop-baltimore-symphony-orchestra-stepping-down/2021/05/19/2bafa432-b1a0-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html
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