Sun coverage: Marin Alsop

Alsop's first season ends with energy

Marin Alsop's inaugural season as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is ending pretty much the way it started, with a program that places a sizable contemporary American work alongside a blockbuster from the standard European canon. In this case, the former is Joan Tower's big and often bracing Concerto for Orchestra; the latter is Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Science, symphonies mix with Alsop's 'CSI'

Subject: Long-haired male.

Concert Review

BSO gets a warm reception during Alsop's Carnegie debut

When Marin Alsop stepped onto the podium of the Carnegie Hall stage to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night, a considerable crescendo of applause rose from a sizable audience that included feminist Gloria Steinem, stellar soprano Jessye Norman and Trey Anastasio, formerly of the rock group Phish.

Influential Books: Marin Alsop

Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. In 2005, Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first and only conductor to receive this prestigious American award. The three books that most influenced her:

An ovation for Alsop

Two years after anticipation of her appointment caused a near-mutiny among its players, Marin Alsop made her official Charm City debut as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last night, receiving a standing ovation as the took the stage.

Music Review

For BSO, it's music, maestra, please

After two years of buildup, Marin Alsop's historic tenure as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra truly began last night, and began with quite a kick.

Alsop brings new era to BSO

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra that takes the stage this week bears only superficial resemblance to the one that glumly gathered two years ago.

Laura Vozzella: They gasp at the doorway

Awoman born to antiques dealers and steeped in classical music has the hippest office in town, backstage at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Music Review

BSO's gala features fiery moments and an eclectic lineup

Talk about your day of judgment.

Classical Review

Alsop brings BSO back to recording

Talk about momentum. Things couldn't move much faster, or more positively, at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where Marin Alsop is a few short weeks away from the history-making inauguration of her tenure as music director -- the first woman at the helm of a major American orchestra.

Offbeat and in tune

A slogan often encountered in this compact city nestled along the north side of Monterey Bay, where the midsummer temperature hovers around 70 and the sky can be a startling blue, makes a simple, hard-to-resist plea: "Keep Santa Cruz Weird."

A change in tempo

When Marin Alsop starts her inaugural season as Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director in September, she'll have a tough act to follow - herself. As music director-designate this season, Alsop has already shaken things up considerably.In the past few months alone, she has led the BSO into cyber-land for the first time - a live performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring that enjoyed a ride as No. 1 on iTunes classical downloads. She enlivened programming with, among other things, the ensemble's first all-Philip Glass program.

Classical music review

This week, it's BSO's Marin Alsop all over

These days, many classical musicians would consider themselves fortunate to make one or two recordings a year. Marin Alsop has three discs coming out Tuesday alone.

Alsop plans lively, crowd-pleasing debut

Marin Alsop stood in front of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra a couple of weeks before 2006 slipped into 2007, dressed as denim-casual as the students before her.

Marin Alsop, BSO conductor

Marin Alsop is one of the busiest conductors on the scene today, and also one of the brightest (with a $500,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation to prove it). Her energy, inquisitiveness and dry wit have made her quite a musical force, and local audiences are about to experience that force more often. The New York-born Alsop, 50, music director-designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will conduct several weeks of programs in the first half of 2007. She's likely to make an even bigger splash come September, with the start of her first full season as the first female music director of a major American orchestra.