From left to right : BSO Flutist Marcia Kämper , Kevin Puts , Agata Zubel , Marin Alsop , Malek Jandali , BSO Principal Timpanist James Wyman
A NEW
TUNE
Marin Alsop recruits talent from near and far for a unique music festival experience .
B Y DEVON MALONEY
With the launch of the inaugural New Music Festival in July , BSO Music Director Marin Alsop further solidified her role as an artistic visionary . Never one for playing it safe , Alsop took a chance , challenging the idea that classical-music audiences prefer familiar pieces by initiating an event full of fresh , exciting programming .
“ You know more people are writing music today than probably during the entire last century ,” says Alsop . “ You may think you
don ’ t know anything about new music , but that ’ s not true because there ’ s new music being created every day around us . When you go to a film , for example , that ’ s all new music — it ’ s just been written .”
Co-curated by Alsop and cellist Inbal Segev , the New Music Festival celebrated contemporary composition with three days of performances , a community block party and a panel discussion . As a champion of new music , Alsop understands the importance of promoting the work of living composers to the Baltimore audience in such a highly visible way . Devoting not only one concert , but an entire weekend ’ s worth of programming to current composition shows her commitment to new music and her confidence in the city ’ s desire to support it . “ There ’ s so much excitement , there ’ s so much creativity , there are so many artists , and I think we have a public that ’ s curious about new things and willing to take chances ,” says Alsop of hosting the festival in Baltimore .
Featured in the festival were two composers with ties to the Baltimore area : Kevin Puts and Christopher Rouse . Both winners of the Pulitzer Prize , Puts and Rouse have had previous work commissioned and premiered by Alsop and the BSO . Rouse ’ s haunting Rotae Passionis ( Passion Wheels ), inspired by Christian liturgy , concluded the festival ’ s opening-night chamber concert in dramatic fashion . The piece calls for 14 hammer strikes — percussive blows issued by BSO player John Locke that shook the walls of the performance space at Peabody Conservatory . Puts saw the BSO Premiere of his Quintet for Piano and Strings as well as the reprise of his orchestral work , The City . With an accompanying film by Director James Bartolomeo that takes viewers through a historic journey around Baltimore , The City provided an uplifting
8 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org