Photo Credit: Andrej Grilc
Marin Alsop
Conductor and Educator, TACF
Speaking at Opening Session and Gold Baton Award
The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Marin Alsop is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development.
The 2024-25 season marks Alsop’s sixth as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra; her second as Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony; her second as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia; and her first as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. She is also Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony and Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival, where she leads the Chicago Symphony’s annual summer residencies.
Alsop becomes the first U.S.-born woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic when she makes her long-awaited debut with the orchestra in February 2025, leading the world premiere of a new commission from Outi Tarkiainen. Other 2024-25 highlights include a Nico Muhly world premiere with the New York Philharmonic, a New Year’s Eve concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and multiple performances with the Philharmonia.
Alsop has longstanding relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony, and regularly guest conducts the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, La Scala Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and others. A full decade after making history as the first female conductor of London’s Last Night of the Proms, in 2023 she became the first woman and first American to guest conduct three Last Nights in the festival’s long history. She made her triumphant debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2024.
Alsop’s discography comprises more than 200 titles for Decca, Harmonia Mundi, and Sony Classical, as well as her acclaimed Naxos cycles of Brahms with the London Philharmonic, Dvořák with the Baltimore Symphony, and Prokofiev with the São Paulo Symphony. Recent releases include a live account of Candide with the LSO & Chorus and multiple titles with the Vienna RSO for Naxos, among them a John Adams collection that has just received a 2025 Grammy nomination for “Best Orchestral Performance.