In Thursday’s (7/25) Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith reports, “Marin Alsop has signed a new contract that will extend her tenure as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra through August 2021, 14 years after she began the job.… She was the first woman to gain the top artistic post at a major American orchestra.… ‘My start was so surprising, on so many levels,’ Alsop, 56, said. ‘I didn’t come into this with any expectations.… It has been an organic process. I love the orchestra and I love living here.’ Alsop’s previous contract was to have ended in 2015.… During her first years with the BSO, Alsop greatly revitalized the scope of programming and helped get the orchestra recording again after a long hiatus…The conductor has launched innovative educational projects … including the OrchKids venture in inner city schools; and two projects for adult amateur players, the BSO Academy and Rusty Musicians.… ‘My goal is that, by the end of the contract renewal, these programs will be so well organized and supported that they will just be part of the fabric of what the BSO does,’ Alsop said. … BSO president and CEO Paul Meecham said that Alsop ‘revitalized this institution.’ ”

Posted July 25, 2013