One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop is a powerful and inspiring voice. The first woman to head major orchestras in the United States, South America, Austria, and Great Britain, she is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, her deep commitment to education, and her championing of music’s importance in the world.

Alsop is Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival, where she leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual residencies. She is the first Music Director of the University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, after an outstanding 14-year tenure as its Music Director. Having made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, and the first female and first American to guest conduct it three times, this season she becomes the first U.S.-born woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic.

To promote and nurture female conductors’ careers, in 2002 she founded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. The only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, she has also been honoured with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. The Conductor, a documentary about her life, was nominated for an Emmy and recognized with a Naples International Film Festival award.