Music Director Marin Alsop conceived the 2019-20 season to commemorate the centennial of women ’ s suffrage . Her appointment in 2006 marked the first time a woman was engaged to lead a major U . S . orchestra , a distinction that remains to this day .

XIAN ZHANG

As part of her ongoing work to mentor , support , and promote women in classical music , the season saw Marin invite three women conductors to make their BSO conducting debuts and program eight works by women composers , including four commissions or premieres .

Special events including an evening with Hamilton ’ s Leslie Odom , Jr .; holiday concerts featuring a ( surprise ) Holiday Spectacular appearance by the Baltimore Ravens ’ marching band , a Gospel Christmas with Grammy ^™ -award winning vocalist CeCe Winans , and Cirque Nutcracker with acrobats , jugglers , and high-flying aerialists ; orchestra with film presentations including sold-out presentations of Amadeus ; and the BSO ’ s SuperPops series led by Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly , with the Nat King Cole Songbook and a tribute to Aretha Franklin .

Notable debuts included Daniel Bernard Roumain performing his own Voodoo Violin Concerto in the subscription season opening concert .

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason , known as the royal wedding cellist , performed Saint-Saens ’ Cello Concerto No . 1 in A minor ( and a different encore every night ) to large , enthusiastic audiences .

[ Roumain ] was engaging both as composer and performer ... Fiddling on his amplified instrument , or taking his bow in his teeth to pluck the strings like a guitar , and even singing into the mic at one point , he drew the orchestra after him in call-and-response episodes , and the audience into enthusiastic applause , a response to this welcome jolt of musical reality in a normally rarefied world .”

— The Washington Post

People were still waiting to meet Mr . Kanneh- Mason as the lights flashed for the audience to take its seats for the second half ; ... as the auditorium dimmed ; ... as Ms . Alsop came out and the orchestra began Dvorak ’ s Seventh Symphony .”

— The New York Times

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