Overture Magazine: 2016-2017 Season September - October 2016 | Page 12

10 O v ertur e |

from the

Podium

Maestra Alsop
reflects on
the past and
future of
the BSO.
–by –
Christianna
McCausland

Marin Alsop joined the BSO as music director
in 2007. As she approaches her 10th year at the
podium, she sat down with Overture to share her
reflections on young composers, the future of the
symphony, and what she does in her free time
(the answers will surprise you):
Aside from the opportunity to lead a major orchestra,
what excited you about coming to Baltimore?
The orchestra. I really sensed a passion and a potential in the
orchestra that I wanted to be a part of. I’m also from New York,
so getting back to the east coast felt like a nice return.
When you first began here, what was your vision
and how has it been met or evolved?
I knew that it would be part of my mandate and my mission to
try to figure out how to reconnect with the community and start
presenting programs and concerts that were exciting and drew an
audience. Another thing was they hadn’t made any recordings in
over a decade, so that was a big goal, to get the orchestra recording
again. On the financial front, we still struggle a bit. I’m really
focused now on how we bring up musicians’ salaries to a competitive level and also create a financial model that can be sustained
for the city, the community and the musicians themselves.
What are some of the changes you’ve seen in the BSO
and the surrounding community over the last decade?
We all have a responsibility to the city. That has become more
obvious over this decade. I’m very proud of Baltimore for
having the conversation and being open to thinking about
how we can come together to try to impact the future of our
younger generations, especially. The BSO has been a leader in
many ways in trying to connect with the community at large.
The most obvious is through the OrchKids program. This is a
program that is about the present, but also about the future, and
about creating a different landscape not only for the Baltimore
Symphony in the decades to come, but hopefully it will influence
many of the symphonies throughout the United States, because
many of these kids will end up playing in orchestras. Also, we’ve
tried to reach out and create different audiences through series
like Off the Cuff and the new Pulse. We’ve taken on the youth
orchestra and expanded our educational offerings with initiatives
like Rusty Musicians for non-professional adult musicians.
We’ve tried to connect to different segments of our community
as much as possible. That’s become part of the mission and fabric
of what we do at the BSO.

www. bsomusic .org

Ad r ian e Wh ite (Al so p)

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