In Tuesday’s (11/24) Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein interviews Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, who leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Alsop describes her relationship with musicians of the Baltimore Symphony as “based on mutual respect…. We are very comfortable together, artistically as well as personally. The musicians see how much I value them and what an advocate I am for this orchestra.” Alsop also speaks about the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship she founded in 2002 to support emerging female conductors; among previous winners of the fellowship is Mei-Ann Chen, music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Memphis Symphony. “This year we had 60 applicants from 17 countries. None were Americans, but the winner, an Italian woman (Valentina Peleggi), and the two associate fellows, from Poland (Marzena Diakun) and Germany (Ruth Reinhardt), are all fantastic. … Peleggi will be my new assistant conductor in Brazil,” where Alsop is music director of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Regarding female conductors, Alsop says, “We don’t have to scale quite as steep a mountain anymore, but it’s still a climb.”
Posted November 25, 2015
Pictured: Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Photo: Chris Lee.
