The First Female Conductor of a major US symphony

New York Times
July 16, 2005
Near a Breakthrough at the Baltimore Symphony
By JEREMY EICHLER

The conducting podiums of large American orchestras have historically been an all-male province, but the Baltimore Symphony may finally be changing that. On Wednesday, a 21-member search committee voted to make the American conductor Marin Alsop the orchestra's next music director. If her appointment is ratified by the orchestra's board on Tuesday, she will become the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.

Ms. Alsop, 48, is currently principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, but insiders have long speculated that a major American post was on its way. Her three-year contract with Baltimore, which has not been finalized, states that she would serve as music director designate starting in the 2006-7 season and begin her official tenure in the fall of 2007, said James Glicker, president and chief executive of the Baltimore Symphony. She would succeed Yuri Temirkanov, now in his sixth season with the orchestra.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Ms. Alsop said yesterday from a cruise off the coast of New England. "I'm very honored to be able to be the first woman to have this position, and I'm hoping it will soon become a nonissue for the women who follow me."

Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said that if the appointment goes through, "it would be a great leap forward and a significant moment in American musical history."

It would be highly unusual for an orchestra's board to reject the recommendation of the search committee, which was headed by the board chairman and included six other board members, as well as orchestral staff, musicians and an outside consultant. Ms. Alsop's probable appointment was first reported yesterday in The Baltimore Sun.

Women have led smaller American orchestras, but never one of the 24 largest in the country when ranked by annual operating budgets, according to Julia Kirchhausen of the American Symphony Orchestra League. The Baltimore Symphony falls easily within that group, with an annual budget of $30 million.

Ms. Alsop's appointment would bring to a close a search that began in December and included an unusually high degree of consultation with audiences and the larger community. Opinion-canvassing efforts included three town-hall-style meetings where audience members discussed what they were looking for in a music director. The orchestra even hired a research firm to conduct a telephone poll of residents in the Baltimore area. "People wanted somebody who would be actively involved in the community, and who could bridge the gap between audience and performer," said Mr. Glicker, the orchestra's president and chief executive. "Marin fit those requirements and was an audience favorite from a survey point of view, and in ticket sales."

For her part, Ms. Alsop seems eager to build a substantial presence in Baltimore. Her contract stipulates a 14-week season each year with the orchestra, longer than Mr. Temirkanov's typical season of 11 to 12 weeks. She spoke of countering the trend of jet-setting maestros, and embracing an older model of a music director building a major presence in a city. A native New Yorker, Ms. Alsop cited Leonard Bernstein as an inspiration for how a conductor can connect with local audiences. In her own concerts, with the Bournemouth Symphony and with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, which she led for 12 years, she has been known to speak casually with audiences directly from the podium.

Her willingness to be involved with the community would no doubt be important; Mr. Glicker confirmed that in addition to her artistic work she would be expected to take a leadership role in fund-raising. The Baltimore Symphony has been dogged in recent years by fiscal problems, and after recently opening a second home in North Bethesda, Md., a suburb of Washington, the orchestra has an accumulated deficit of $12 million projected for 2006.

But Ms. Alsop seemed undaunted by the financial situation. "I look at it as a moment of opportunity rather than a moment of fear," she said. "Many orchestras these days are having fiscal problems. To me, that's the moment not to be conservative and hunker down. It's an opportunity to take intelligent risks. And make a statement, to really step out and differentiate yourself from every other orchestra with similar fiscal problems."

Her plans for the orchestra include taking on more recording projects, possibly by expanding a relationship she has built with the Naxos label, which in the fall will release the next installment of her critically acclaimed Brahms cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Glicker said the orchestra also hopes to increase its online presence.

"I think it's a moment to assess what's possible, and to take a few chances, a few calculated risks," Ms. Alsop said. "In every orchestra I've been music director of, it's all been about calculated risk."