Accessibility links
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.
thumbnail
Special Series

Marin Alsop on Music

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

Saturday

Leonard Bernstein's Unconventional 'Anxiety'

Leonard Bernstein's Age of Anxiety symphony is as unconventional as its creator. Courtesy of Library of Congress hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Library of Congress

Deceptive Cadence

Leonard Bernstein's Unconventional 'Anxiety'

For conductor Marin Alsop, Bernstein's idiosyncratic Second Symphony — inspired by W.H. Auden's poem The Age of Anxiety — is a musical quest to answer life's big questions with time out to throw a hip-swinging party.

Leonard Bernstein's Unconventional 'Anxiety'

Listen · 7:29
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/224472076/224723012" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Extreme Drama: The Life And Music Of Richard Wagner

Rudolph Cronau's drawing of Wagner's opera house, Bayreuth, flanked by his birthplace (left) and place of death. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

toggle caption
Wikimedia Commons

Deceptive Cadence

Extreme Drama: The Life And Music Of Richard Wagner

Marking the 200th anniversary of the controversial composer's birth, conductor Marin Alsop and friends rethink Wagner in a series of multimedia concerts.

Extreme Drama: The Life And Music Of Richard Wagner

Listen · 9:39
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/176911742/177119301" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

Stride piano pioneer James P. Johnson had dreams of becoming a successful symphonic composer. William Gottlieb hide caption

toggle caption
William Gottlieb

Deceptive Cadence

Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

The man who wrote "The Charleston" also had orchestral music played at Carnegie Hall. Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop retraces her detective work in uncovering lost symphonic works by jazz piano pioneer James P. Johnson.

Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

Listen · 9:25
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/170864270/170923258" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Leonard Bernstein's 'Kaddish' Symphony: A Crisis Of Faith

The traditional Jewish Kaddish prayer gets turned on its head in Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 3. Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Leonard Bernstein's 'Kaddish' Symphony: A Crisis Of Faith

Conductor Marian Alsop muses on her mentor's most religious symphony, a work that raises more questions than it answers.

Leonard Bernstein's 'Kaddish' Symphony: A Crisis Of Faith

Listen · 11:41
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/161824558/162005834" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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

Listen · 12:13
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/157113606/157154411" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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

Listen · 10:06
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/151884589/152079785" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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

Listen · 10:40
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/145168801/145221273" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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

Listen · 10:32
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142021891/142053330" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
Getty Images

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

Listen · 9:29
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136928271/136949408" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Building A Career On Barber, The Enigmatic American

Samuel Barber in 1944. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

toggle caption
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

Listen · 9:51
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/130891207/130934999" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

Listen · 10:57
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128192566/128284249" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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'

Listen · 9:46
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120311185/120416116" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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

Listen · 10:19
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/111389366/111456618" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

Listen · 12:49
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/104464863/104495127" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/98342141/98756686" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript