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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Igor Stravinsky's exotic, propulsive ballet The Rite of Spring captured conductor Marin Alsop's imagination at an early age. She says the music's "swing and sheer abandon" got her hooked, and the orchestra became her passion. -
The music itself toggles between huge forces and a single voice, juxtaposing majesty and intimacy with ease. At its largest, Carmina Burana employs a chorus of 200 or more voices, an orchestra of 100 players and a children's choir of 50 or more, plus three soloists: soprano, tenor and baritone. -
For Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony beginning in 2007, the centennial of Dmitri Shostakovich's birth presents an opportunity to explore the complexity and lesser-known pleasures of the legendary Russian composer's music.
