WYE MILLS - Marking The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary, its music director, Marin Alsop, conducts the orchestra in the January 13th concert, 8:00PM at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College. A pre-concert discussion is scheduled for 7:00PM with Marin Alsop.
This concert will mark the 100th anniversary of the orchestra’s founding. The evening’s program will include Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Beethoven Symphony No. 3“Eroica,” and will feature the orchestra’s principal oboist Katherine Needleman playing Christopher Rouse’s Oboe Concerto.
Marin Alsop joined the orchestra in 2007 and has been recognized by two extensions in her tenure until 2021. She is also the music director of Sao Paulo, Brazil Symphony Orchestra and has guest-conducted the great orchestras of the world. In 2013 Ms Alsop, had the honor of conducting the traditional “Last Night of the BBC Proms” which featured the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Daniele de Niese, and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor at London’s Royal Albert Hall. She returned to the Proms in 2015 to conduct the “Last Night” and other programs in the series.
Ms Alsop has long been an advocate of new music and has been the music director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. She also maintains links with her previous orchestras - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conductor laureate Eugene, Oregon Symphony and music director laureate Colorado Symphony. Ms Alsop is the recipient of numerous awards and is the only conductor to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.
The New York City native attended Yale University, received her master’s degree from The Julliard School, and was the first women to be awarded the Koussevitsky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of Leonard Bernstein. She is now director of the graduate conducting program at the Johns Hopkins’ Peabody Institute.
Marin Alsop has long been a champion of the work of Christopher Rouse, the composer of the Oboe concerto, the featured piece on the program. Mr. Rouse is one of today’s most prolific composers. The Baltimore native and current resident has a long list of pieces commissioned by many
orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony. He was recently the composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic.
Katherine Needleman joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as principal oboist in 2003. She has been recognized as one of the most talented double reed players performing today. The Washington Post cited her “deliciously plaintive tone,” while the Baltimore Sun notes her “startling agility, endless breaths…and prism of sonic colors.” Rouse’s lyrical and accessible piece is well suited to her talent. Ms Needleman has appeared with many leading orchestras including Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony and others. She’s a Baltimore Native, attended the Baltimore School of the Arts leaving early to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. She’s on the faculties of Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, the Aspen Music Festival and Curtis Institute Summerfest.
The Mid-Shore Symphony Society is now its 45th season presenting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in partnership with Chesapeake College to Eastern Shore audiences. These concerts are supported in part by ticket sales, the Maryland Arts Council, Queen Anne’s Art’s County Arts Council, Kent County Arts Council and the Talbot County Arts Council, and generous contributions by friends of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.