Marin Alsop, not one to do things by halves, will conduct the last concert of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's season Sunday afternoon and then plunge directly into the new, weeklong BSO Academy that will help amateur musicians get reconnected to their art by working with the pros.
Lately, the orchestra's music director has been doubly active offstage, too, planting firmer roots in Baltimore — city and county.
This season, Alsop settled into a condo she bought in a stylishly converted Mount Vernon church. More recently, she purchased a home in the Hunt Valley area that is being renovated and readied for three new occupants in September: Alsop and her partner of two decades, Kristin Jurkscheit, and their nearly 7-year-old-son, Auden.
The family's longtime principal residence has been in Denver, where Jurkscheit is associate principal horn of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (Alsop is music director emeritus).
"It took three years for me to really feel at home in Baltimore and feel confident with my relationship with the orchestra," says Alsop. "I feel really invested and connected, and very appreciated, too, I have to say. And my family feels very welcomed here. I want to be more available for the orchestra and to be present in the community for them, to be as available locally as I can be."
Jurkscheit, who grew up in Columbia and attended Peabody Preparatory, will take a leave of absence from the Colorado Symphony; she'll likely do gigs as a substitute or extra player with the BSO and other ensembles while living here. Auden will be enrolled in private school in Baltimore.
"It's a big commitment," Alsop says. "We'll try it for a year and see if it works. Being on the East Coast is a tremendous opportunity for a kid. The canvas is so much bigger, and Auden is real curious."
The idea of settling down in Baltimore seems to animate Alsop.
"I actually like this place," she says. "It's an edgy, quirky, cool city to live in. It's warm, embracing and beautiful. And, you know, Baltimore is the epicenter. They may not have realized it yet, but Washington, Philadelphia and New York really emanate from here."
This weekend's season finale also closes the first chapter of Alsop's tenure — her initial contract as music director was for three years, beginning in September 2007. Her next contract, signed last summer, kicks in this September and will keep her on the podium through 2015.
Last June, "when [BSO board chairman] Michael Bronfein announced onstage that Marin had signed a new five-year contract, the audience reaction was extraordinary," says Laurie Sokoloff, the BSO's piccolo player and head of the players' committee. "It is obvious that Marin has connected to the audience. I think Baltimore really loves her. And it's not a PR machine that made that happen. It's her."
Bronfein seconds that. "Marin demonstrated a mission and a vision of how a great American orchestra should interact with its community," he says. "Moving here is a physical embodiment of that commitment. One thing I like about Marin is that she walks the talk. She doesn't just give things lip service."
When Alsop opened her first BSO season, it would have been hard to predict how the situation would look three years later. Back then, fallout from her appointment to the job — the orchestra had asked the BSO board of directors to extend the music director search process — lingered in the air.
"That seems like a dim memory, thank goodness," says BSO president and CEO Paul Meecham, who arrived on the scene after the controversy. Sokoloff agrees: "Personally, I think we were ready to forget about it years ago, and I think Marin feels the same way."
Although longtime BSO watchers and listeners will note that the orchestra sometimes shines in unusually compelling ways with guest conductors — Hannu Lintu and Juanjo Mena this season, for example — it's impossible to miss the consistently disciplined and expressive playing when Alsop is at the helm.
Her first three years here generated some of the BSO's greatest performances in a decade, including Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" (the recording of that daunting work was nominated for a Grammy this year) and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 last season.
This season added other memorable achievements, especially accounts of works by Bela Bartok and George Gershwin that found Alsop and her players tightly meshed. A just-released recording of the Gershwin program, featuring piano soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, is winning rave reviews.
"There have been some real musical highs," Sokoloff says. "I think there is a wonderful feeling of give and take when Marin works with us."
Interviewed in her Mount Vernon condo, with its striking mix of antiques and modern furniture and subtle lighting through the original stained glass windows, Alsop sounds as upbeat as ever about her historic association with the BSO — she's the first woman to serve as music director of a major American orchestra.
"The qualities in the Baltimore Symphony I was originally attracted to continue to inspire me," she says. "When everybody is in the zone, there is a very high level of passion. This is not a boring orchestra at all. They're willing to go for the edge. The musicians respond when I take risks artistically and really go for it. That's what they love. They like musicians who jump in with both feet. I find that really inspiring."
Alsop has long been known in the music world for precision of detail, especially in contemporary repertoire, and she sought that clarity from the get-go. "I spent a lot of time on rhythmic integrity, intonation, sound," she says.
While fine-tuning the ensemble, the conductor has steadily made her mark in a variety of other ways — post-concert chats with the audience (hundreds of people typically stay for them); new concert presentations, such as the "Off the Cuff" series that focuses on a single piece; and thematic programming that includes adventurous fare.
"She has thrown herself into all aspects of the job, not just the music," Meecham says. "She's a real galvanizing force."
Alsop's imprint offstage is most remarkably demonstrated by OrchKids, a pilot education project seeded with a $100,000 contribution from Alsop. It has taken hold at a West Baltimore elementary school and is attracting national attention — a "60 Minutes" segment last month devoted several minutes to OrchKids.
"This woman has fantastic ideas," Sokoloff says. "She really cares about the city, the community and the orchestra. It is obvious to me and, I think, everybody how much she cares about the future of the [BSO]."
There's a lot to be concerned about these days. Since the economic downturn, severe cost-cutting measures have been implemented at the orchestra. The players responded last year by making substantial salary and benefits concessions. They also launched their own fundraising campaign called "Music Matters," which has brought in $1.25 million.
But the recession has proved a persistent opponent. In March, the musicians reluctantly agreed to a contract that will lead to a 16.6 percent pay cut by 2013. This is expected to help the BSO balance its $24.5 million budget and maintain its coveted status as a 52-week orchestra.
"The musicians' willingness to vote for this contract and preserve a full-time, major orchestra in Baltimore had an enormous impact on me," Alsop says.
Not all of the players will be staying to see how things develop. Three are about to take jobs elsewhere; another left last year.
"We want to be supportive of colleagues in new ventures," Sokoloff says, "but we're all deeply concerned about the musicians who are leaving. There may be others. People who are settled in here and never considered taking auditions are now considering them."
Alsop does not sound unduly worried about the effect the departures may have. But, she says, "it's important to concentrate on building back salaries."
Bronfein agrees.
"There was a board meeting [last] week to discuss ways to initiate revenue growth to help the orchestra," the BSO board chairman says. "I do think the worst is over. We have finally addressed many, many years of not facing the reality of the business model and our own economic situation."
A new campaign for beefing up the BSO's endowment (currently about $46 million) is being discussed, Meecham says. And he points to positive financial developments.
"We now have 2,000 more donors than we had two years ago," Meecham says. "We're building a much stronger base for the orchestra. We don't expect Marin to personally solicit money — that's not her job — but she is wonderful with donors, and she always has speaking engagements in the community that lead to people asking how they can help."
Bronfein recounts one particularly gratifying recent gift from a wealthy friend who had previously declined the chairman's requests for donations because his money was committed to education. "He saw the '60 Minutes' piece and, one minute after the show ended, he called me and said, 'You win.' That's a great example," Bronfein says, "where Marin's vision, commitment and excellence all came together."
Alsop never runs out of ideas.
"We're already way down the path toward redefining what a 21st-century orchestra is," the conductor says. "Orchestras will have to be multidimensional, with more ancillary projects, getting engaged with people on different levels. It feels great to work with musicians who are willing to look at the landscape in fresh ways. Some orchestras only use a 19th-century lens."
Connecting to the city and beyond is a major Alsop theme. She dreams about development of the area around Meyerhoff Symphony Hall that would include a community center. She's thinking about offering lunchtime talks about music.
Finding a way to launch a substantial venture involving contemporary music interests her. "I'd like to get something underground-fringe-edgy going here in a way that suits Baltimore," she says. She's "testing the waters," she adds, with the program she'll conduct during the BSO's summer season next month featuring music by Baltimore's own Frank Zappa and an appearance by popular local beatboxer Shodekeh.
Even the orchestra's appearance has Alsop's attention. "I spoke to 'Project Runway' about having a contest to design new [concert wear for the players]," she says. "I didn't get anywhere, but I haven't given up on the idea."
Perseverance, clearly, is another useful trait of Alsop's.
"We're just at the beginning of what we can offer the public," the conductor says. "We're just getting started."
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