The first woman ever to conduct the Last Night of the Proms back in 2013, Marin Alsop is returning to the Royal Albert Hall on 24 August.
She established a fellowship to mentor women conductors and, with her life partner Kristin Jurkscheit, runs OrchKids, a scheme to inspire young musicians. The couple live in Baltimore and have a 22-year-old son, Auden.
It’s always a matter of balancing. The key for me is to be 100 per cent present wherever I am, and always have the organisation’s best interests in mind. The great joy is being able to invest in an orchestra and build it. That’s my favourite thing to do. And maybe that’s why I’ve continued to keep connections to Bournemouth Symphony, São Paulo, Denver and Baltimore, because I really do feel committed to all of them.
Definitely. I leave a little piece of my heart in every place, and it’s always wonderful to go back. I first came to the UK in the 90s to work with the City of London Sinfonia so it’s always felt like a second home.
It’s a highlight of the year. A wonderful experience, for sure. I’ve had the privilege of introducing several orchestras to the Proms – the São Paulo, the Baltimore Symphony, and then the Vienna Radio Symphony. And uniformly, the look of awe and wonderment on the musicians’ faces when they walk into the Albert Hall and sit down on that stage... I mean, they’re like kids in a candy shop. They’re just like, “Oh, wow!” There’s something magical about the atmosphere with the Prommers. It’s one of those rare moments where everybody’s there to have a great time. I don’t think that exists anywhere else in the world.
I’ve only gone to two or three because usually I’m so busy. If I were to live in London, it would be part of my weekly diet. The Proms would be like binge-eating. You’re spoilt for choice, right?
With a bit of negotiation, as always. The BBC was very interested in having an all-American programme, and I wanted to highlight some of the composers I’ve championed – less represented ones like William Grant Still, whose music is gorgeous and not played very often. Of course, you can’t really have American music without Copland and Bernstein – the usual suspects! And Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is a bit of a departure in that Marcus Roberts, who’s a fabulous jazz pianist, is coming with his trio for their own rendition, which highlights the jazz aspect of the piece.
That was very kind of Joan. It’s a little companion piece or a reaction to Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. It’s lovely to feel ownership of a piece, or that I’ve been entrusted with this treasure and it’s my responsibility to take care of it. It’s like present opening on Christmas morning. There’s the excitement of never really knowing what it’s going to be. It’s always a surprise. I love working with living composers.
I’ve been conducting West Side Story with the Washington National Opera recently, but he’s in my mind all the time. I feel like he’s sitting on my shoulder and saying, “No, no, yes, yes, no.” Almost every day I’m in awe of his incredible range of talent. Bernstein was passionate about the music, no doubt, and he was a great storyteller. I learnt so much about what kind of citizen of the world I wanted to be from watching him, because he always stood up for what he believed in. By his actions, I felt encouraged to use my platform, so to speak, to try to further other people. That really has influenced how I’ve tried to live.
Oh gosh, I have a lot. [Opera star] Joyce DiDonato is a role model. She stands up for what she believes in and invests in trying to give back. I respect and admire many of my colleagues – like Simon Rattle – who are generous in giving back to the next generations of conductors. We need to support and influence younger generations so they also become activists. Activists for music.
Oh, it’s a privilege. I don’t think anyone sets out to be a role model or ground-breaker. But there’s a responsibility to push the doors wider open for future musicians. With OrchKids, the programme I started in Baltimore, I see 2,000 kids now playing instruments and it blows my mind. They’re so talented, and the only obstruction was access. They didn’t have the opportunity before. And that’s just such a poor excuse.
It was triggered by my non-musical mentor, Tomio Taki, who helped start my first orchestra. He never liked classical music but somehow stuck with me. He’s a great guy, now 91 and living in Japan. He said, “You have a responsibility now to all the women that follow you.” So I started this fellowship in his name to thank him and to create as many opportunities for talented women as I could, to take risks and experiment. Now I see these 90 women having their own community, even WhatsApp groups, where they support each other. Conducting is such a solitary profession. You travel alone, you study alone, and having a community has made a big difference for them. That’s been a great thing to watch happen.
When you see a woman conducting an orchestra, you see authority in vivid colour. And leadership across all disciplines is an issue we need to address in terms of gender equality. I wanted to use the platform of literally being on the podium to show how it can also symbolise leadership in all professions. What inspired me was that my mother was a breast cancer survivor, and the global support campaign with little pink ribbons brings much awareness to women’s health. So I’m hoping that the #PurpleBaton campaign will inspire people similarly. The baton itself is such a symbol of authority but we also think about passing the baton.
Yeah, that was a little over the top back then. But still there’s no woman that leads one of the top orchestras of the world. That’s a big barrier. I hope I see it in my lifetime. So now is not the moment to be complacent. It’s time to link arms and move forward in strength and numbers and be intentional about changing the future. Unless an organisation is intentional about change, change will not happen, and with politics today, we see how quickly progress can be stripped away for women. So we have to be vigilant and not let up on the gas.
There’s this incredible backlash to anything that’s unfamiliar to a large swathe of the population. That so limits their experience. They miss out on the richness of everyone’s contribution. I feel that on any given day I could have a battle on many fronts. I hope we can get back to Beethoven’s ideal of finding tolerance and unity and the power of humanity. And this is why live music is so important. Because it is non-judgmental, it’s inclusive, so that even if we have vastly different political views, we can all enjoy a concert 100 per cent. That’s what I love about music. It really is a unifying force.
I don’t have too many performance rituals. I just try to keep a few minutes before the concert empty. It’s important to visualise how you want to feel when you step on the podium and be super-focused. The trick as a conductor is to not be distracted but be very present for the musicians and enable them to be the best they can.
I love spending time at home with my family. We try to plan some getaways. We had a great trip to South Africa in December. On a daily basis, I love study and have German lessons all the time. I enjoy working out a little.
It’s always a delicate balance. I work with the Washington National Opera, a company that just decoupled from the Kennedy Center [in response to Trump appointing himself the arts body’s chairman]. So they’re now independent, and I’m happy to be supporting them. I think art needs to be nonpartisan and owned by everyone, but I don’t think art can be without opinion. I don’t know if that’s humanly possible.
Historically, the most difficult times that civilisations have gone through resulted in incredible art. I’m able to create programmes that maybe have a message. Copland’s Appalachian Spring is a piece about the ideals of America in the earlier days. America held – and holds – such promise, and could be so great. We have to hang on to that somehow through this time.
ENTER OUR PRIZE DRAW FOR TWO TICKETS See the great Marin Alsop conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in a programme of Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein in the American Classics Prom on Monday 24 August at 7pm. PLEASE APPLY HERE.
The BBC Proms runs from Friday 17 July to Saturday 12 September. Book tickets via bbc.co.uk/promstickets or royalalberthall.com.
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