Marin Alsop

One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop represents a powerful and inspiring voice. Convinced that music has the power to change lives, she is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, deep commitment to education, and championing of music’s importance in the world. The first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain, she is now in her fourth season as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and recently extended her contract as Chief Conductor of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, where she curates and conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer residencies. The 2023-24 season marks Alsop’s fifth as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. her first as Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony, and her first as both Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra.

She begins as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 2024-25 season. She also serves as Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony (OSESP), the first Music Director of the University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F), and Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where she continues to conduct the orchestra for three weeks each season after an outstanding 14-year tenure as its Music Director. The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, she also made history as both the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, as well as the first female and first American to conduct the Last Night three times. In 2019, Alsop was honored with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. To promote and nurture the careers of her fellow female conductors, in 2002 she founded the program now named the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. The Conductor, a documentary about her life, debuted at New York’s 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and has subsequently been broadcast on PBS television, screened at festivals and theaters nationwide, and recognized with the Naples International Film Festival’s 2021 Focus on the Arts Award.