Marin Alsop
Photo: Grant Leighton
Marin Alsop, 63, is stepping down as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the end of her current contract, which expires Aug. 31, 2021, the BSO announced. Alsop, the first woman to lead a major orchestra in the U.S., will maintain the roles of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder, She will continue to lead three concert weeks over the next five seasons, until 2025-2026.
In a statement, Alsop said: “The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras and I have been proud to have served as its artistic leader for the past 14 years. I am looking forward to leading these outstanding musicians as Music Director in the upcoming season and continuing our involvement in my new position as Music Director Laureate.”
Marin Alsop’s relation with the orchestra’s management suffered from the long strike and lockout in 2019. At the time she complained that artistic questions were not the priority in this orchestra.
The American conductor is Music Director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna. At the end of 2019, following a seven-year tenure as Music Director, she became Conductor of Honour of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), where she will return to conduct major projects each season.
She has also been given a two-year appointment as the first chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival, the annual summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Park. She was named an artistic curator of the festival in 2018.
