Marin Alsop

One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop represents a powerful and inspiring voice. The first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the U.S., South America, Austria and Britain, she is Chief Conductor of Vienna’s ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor and Curator of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, where she curates and conducts the Chicago Symphony’s summer residencies. She holds the title of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony, after an outstanding 14 years as its Music Director. Also serving as Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony, the first Music Director of the University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival, and 2021–2022 Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence of the Aspen Institute Arts Program, she was Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for 25 years. The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, she has also received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award and numerous honorary doctorates. To promote and nurture the careers of her fellow female conductors, she founded the program now named the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. The Conductor, an award-winning documentary about her life, debuted at New York’s 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

Photo by Nancy Horowitz