Marin Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international music scene, a Music Director of vision and distinction who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives”. She is recognised across the world for her innovative approach to programming, and for her deep commitment to education and to the development of audiences of all ages.

Entering the Baltimore Symphony Stage

Building an orchestra is one of Alsop’s great gifts, and she retains strong links with all of her previous orchestras – the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, where she was Principal Conductor from 2002 to 2008 and now holds the post of Conductor Emeritus, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, where she was Music Director from 1993 to 2005 and is now Music Director Laureate.

Alsop is a regular guest conductor with the great orchestras of the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and La Scala Milan. She has a close relationship with both the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic and appears with both orchestras most seasons. She also returns regularly to orchestras such as the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic. Alsop is Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London, and in the 2009/10 season was appointed Artistic Director of the year-long Bernstein Project.

Leonard Bernstein was a mentor and an inspiration to Marin early in her career

In 2008 Marin Alsop became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in the following year was chosen as Musical America’s Conductor of the Year. She is the recipient of numerous awards and is the only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, the award given by the MacArthur Foundation for exceptional creative work. In 2011 Alsop was made an Honorary Member (Hon RAM) of the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Alsop’s extensive discography, which already includes a notable set of Brahms symphonies with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is further distinguished by a new Dvořák series, which has been highly praised: “As in her live performances, Alsop’s well-balanced, passionate yet controlled, masterful and authoritative interpretation was remarkable.” Neue Musik-Zeitung

Recent recordings include Bernstein’s Mass (Editor’s Choice at the 2010 Gramophone Awards) and John Adams’s Nixon in China, which the Financial Times gave five stars, calling it an “incandescent performance."

Born in New York City, Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her Master's Degree from The Juilliard School. Her conducting career was launched when, in 1989, she was a prize-winner at the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition and in the same year was the first woman to be awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of Leonard Bernstein.