CELEBRATING MARIN ALSOP
With the pandemic hindering what would have been her extraordinary final season as Music Director, the BSO looked outside the box to celebrate the legendary leadership of Marin Alsop – the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.
Beginning in January 2021, we launched a six month retrospective campaign bringing Marin’ s historic 14 year tenure to life including a weekly lookback at # MarinMilestones on social media, an interactive timeline on BSOmusic. org, and the relaunch of BSO Encore on WBJC radio with 15 of Marin’ s signature programs accompanied by new interviews on air and‘ Listen like a Musician’ insights online.
On May 27, we opened The Marin Festival. In fitting tribute to Marin, three weeks of events were completely free, with programmatic highlights including the final two episodes of BSO Sessions; the Orchestra’ s first( outdoor) concerts for live audiences in 15 months; a special virtual tribute from BSO OrchKids, Daring Innovations; and Marin’ s final concert as Music Director, broadcast live from the Meyerhoff stage on MPT. Featuring soprano Renée Fleming, a special OrchKids appearance, and personal messages from special guests, this MPT broadcast was emceed by BSO Artistic Partner Wordsmith and opened with the world premiere of a new BSO commission by James Lee III in honor of Juneteenth: Destined Words. This MPT broadcast not only outperformed regional programming, but also ranked 7th of 37 PBS stations nationally.
In addition to special conversations, from Marin in her own words with NPR’ s Scott Simon to a virtual Enoch Pratt Writers’ Live! program highlighting Destined Words, we also partnered with local organizations and small business across the state to invite the widest possible community participation.
View the Commemorative Marin Festival Book at BSOmusic. org / ProgramNotes
12 BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA