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Marin Alsop on Music In September, 2007, Marin Alsop became music director of the Baltimore Symphony, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She was named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive the award. Here, she offers commentary on a broad assortment of classical music.
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Special Series

Marin Alsop on Music

The Baltimore Symphony music director offers commentary on a broad assortment of classical music.

Saturday

A Grand Soviet Symphony, By Way Of Brazil

Sergei Prokofiev (pictured) wrote a Fifth Symphony that has special resonance in Sao Paulo for conductor Marin Alsop. Library of Congress hide caption

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Library of Congress

Deceptive Cadence

A Grand Soviet Symphony, By Way Of Brazil

An American conductor explains why Russian music suits her Sao Paolo orchestra.

A Grand Soviet Symphony, By Way Of Brazil

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Wednesday

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

British composer Edward Elgar, seated at his desk at Severn House in Hampstead. His Symphony No. 1 was hailed as the best British symphony ever when it debuted in 1908. Reginald Haines/Getty Images hide caption

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Reginald Haines/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the enduring qualities of the English composer's first symphony.

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

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Friday

Alsop Sprach Zarathustra: Decoding Strauss' Tone Poem

Richard Strauss' iconic opening to Also Sprach Zarathustra evokes a sense of vastness and power, Marin Alsop says. Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Alsop Sprach Zarathustra: Decoding Strauss' Tone Poem

Conductor Marin Alsop investigates the alluring power behind the grand opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Alsop Sprach Zarathustra: Decoding Strauss' Tone Poem

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Friday

Arthur Honegger's Joan Of Arc For The Ages

Actress Jean Seberg plays Joan of Arc in the 1957 Otto Preminger film Saint Joan. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Arthur Honegger's Joan Of Arc For The Ages

Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the timelessness of France's national hero and her musical story.

Arthur Honegger's Joan Of Arc For The Ages

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Friday

Verdi's Requiem: An Opera In Disguise

Giuseppe Verdi poured operatic drama into his Requiem, written in 1874 in memory of his friend Alessandro Manzoni. Getty Images hide caption

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Verdi's Requiem: An Opera In Disguise

As an opera composer, Verdi was always conscious of dramatic effect. With off-stage trumpets, a pounding bass drum and four vocal soloists, his Requiem Mass really packs a wallop. Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the human story and vivid drama behind one of the master's greatest works.

Verdi's Requiem: An Opera In Disguise

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Friday

Building A Career On Barber, The Enigmatic American

Samuel Barber in 1944. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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Wikimedia Commons

Building A Career On Barber, The Enigmatic American

To begin her recording career, conductor Marin Alsop was asked to record all of Samuel Barber's orchestral music. She quickly discovered that there's much more to the composer's music than his famed Adagio for Strings.

Building A Career On Barber, The Enigmatic American

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Friday

A Composer On The Couch: Mahler Meets Freud

A Composer On The Couch: Mahler Meets Freud

Baltimore Symphony Conductor Marin Alsop's latest musical adventure muses on a famous meeting between the troubled composer Gustav Mahler and the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.

Marin Alsop Discusses Mahler With Scott Simon

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Saturday

Marin Alsop's Shared Musical Roots

Marin Alsop's Shared Musical Roots

The Baltimore Symphony conductor chooses a season of music built on the belief that understanding where we come from, and celebrating diversity, can create a sense of continuity, history and belonging — not to mention some great concerts.

Hear Marin Alsop and Scott Simon Discuss Gershwin On 'Weekend Edition Saturday'

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Friday

An Oasis Of New Music At The Cabrillo Festival

Conductor Marin Alsop (right) with composer Christopher Rouse at the Cabrillo Music Festival Cabrillo Festival/R.R. Jones hide caption

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Cabrillo Festival/R.R. Jones

An Oasis Of New Music At The Cabrillo Festival

Making its home in the quaint, quirky city of Santa Cruz, Calif., the Cabrillo Festival is a showcase for contemporary music. It draws many of today's important composers and musicians.

An Oasis Of New Music At The Cabrillo Festival

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Saturday

Jennifer Higdon And Me: A Musical Friendship

Marin Alsop says she can't remember the first time she met composer Jennifer Higdon, and both simply believe they've always known each other. Oddly, the two women have never had a conversation about gender in the classical-music world — that is, until now. Higdon's Violin Concerto is set to be performed by Hilary Hahn next month.

Jennifer Higdon And Me: A Musical Friendship

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Saturday

Copland: Early Music From America's Composer

Conductor Marin Alsop examines the rarely heard music from early in Aaron Copland's career. With an ear toward Copland's bold and sometimes jazzy rhythms, Alsop says that listeners can hear hints of the wide expanses that would later open up in music such as Appalachian Spring.

Copland: Early Music From America's Composer

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Saturday

Revisiting Bernstein's Immodest 'Mass'

Leonard Bernstein wrote his Mass to memorialize John F. Kennedy. But conductor Marin Alsop says that the dizzyingly eclectic work reveals more about its composer than anyone else.

Revisiting Bernstein's Immodest 'Mass'

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Friday

Robert Schumann: Music Amid The Madness

Marin Alsop, meet Robert Schumann. The Baltimore Symphony conductor reconnects with the composer's symphonies, probing for a deeper meaning within this widely performed but still misunderstood music. The Symphony No. 2, Alsop says, traces Schumann's emotional frailty.

Hear Marin Alsop discuss Schumann with NPR's Scott Simon

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Friday

Dvorak's Symphonic Journey to the 'New World'

Czech composer Antonin Dvorak wrote his New World Symphony in New York. Conductor Marin Alsop sees the work as Dvorak's symphony of self-discovery, filled with the sounds of new places and nostalgic nods to his homeland.

Hear Alsop discuss Dvorak on 'Weekend Edition Saturday'

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Saturday