In Saturday’s (7/27) Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith writes, “Any number of things might happen in—or to—our world between now and 2021.… But one thing can be counted on: Marin Alsop will be music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra the whole time. Last week, the BSO announced an extension of Alsop’s contract … making her [by 2021] the second-longest-serving music director since the BSO was founded in 1916.… During the season before Alsop’s arrival, average capacity at the orchestra’s home base, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, was 58 percent; it was 70 percent last season.… But after several balanced budgets, deficits have returned, starting with $800,000 last fiscal year. A smaller deficit is expected when the current fiscal year ends next month.… Artistically speaking, the Alsop years so far have been impressive, too; the next eight should be even more so.… The BSO buzz these days also has to do with the innovative educational projects initiated by Alsop … ‘Other orchestras are calling up the Baltimore Symphony and asking how they do this,’ [League of American Orchestras President and CEO Jesse] Rosen said, ‘because what the BSO is doing is genuinely new. They are at the forefront of educational work.’ ”
Posted July 29, 2013
