Marin Alsop is one of the foremost conductors of our time and a powerful and inspiring voice. She is the first woman to serve as the head of major orchestras in the United States, South America, Austria, and Great Britain. A “formidable musician and a powerful communicator,” and a “conductor with a vision” (New York Times), Alsop is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, for her deep commitment to education, and for championing the importance of music in the world. She is also the first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
The 2025–26 season marks Alsop’s third as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony; her third as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra; and her second as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. She is also Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival, where she leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer residencies.
To promote and nurture the careers of fellow women conductors, Alsop founded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2002. The fellowship has grown into a global platform for identifying and empowering extraordinary women conductors by providing intensive coaching, mentorship, and financial support throughout their careers. Today, all 36 award winners are working to ensure a more equitable future for classical music through their artistry and advocacy. Among them, they hold over 30 music director or chief conductor positions around the world.
Building on her long association with Carnegie Hall, Alsop is a Perspectives artist across 2025–26. She joins an elite group of top performers across disciplines who share their philosophies through a curated series of events. Alsop’s expansive series invites the Philharmonia Orchestra with soloist Alexandre Kantorow, as well as America at 250 programs with The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, and The Juilliard Orchestra, in which she leads an evening featuring a world premiere by Joan Tower. Alsop undertakes additional education projects in connection with the Weill Music Institute.
In October 2025, Alsop opens The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 125th anniversary season with the world premiere of John Adams’ The Rock You Stand On, a new work dedicated to her. The concert also reunites her with pianist Yunchan Lim, whose Cliburn Competition–winning performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto—with Alsop on the podium—was named one of the “Top 10 Classical Performances of 2022” by The New York Times. In the spring, she embarks on a U.S. tour with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Other season highlights include concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall—where she opens the America 250: A Musical Journey festival with Wynton Marsalis’ Liberty (Symphony No. 5)—and performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, including the world premiere of a work for soprano and orchestra by Kathryn Bostic. She also joins the Houston Symphony, with concertmaster Yoonshin Song as soloist, and conducts West Side Story at Washington National Opera.
International performance highlights include Alsop’s return to Japan on tour with the Polish National Radio Symphony and pianist Hayato Sumino. She leads the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in concerts with soloists Claire Huangci, Bruce Liu, and Maria Ioudenitch; conducts the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and leads the Philharmonia Orchestra with Alisa Weilerstein performing Gabriela Ortiz’s cello concerto Dzonot.
Last season, Alsop made her long-awaited Berlin Philharmonic debut. She made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms and was the first American to guest conduct it three times.
In 2021, Alsop assumed the title of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. During her 14-year tenure as Music Director, she led the orchestra on its first European tour in 13 years, released multiple award-winning recordings, and conducted more than two dozen world premieres. She also founded OrchKids, the orchestra’s groundbreaking music education program for Baltimore’s most under-resourced youth. In 2019, after seven years as Music Director, Alsop became Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). She was Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for 25 years, leading 174 premieres. In 2025, she was named Honorary Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, where she served as Chief Conductor for six years.
Alsop’s discography comprises more than 200 titles, featuring music from the standard repertoire and by contemporary composers. Her 2024 album with John Adams’ City Noir was nominated for a GRAMMY Award. Her latest album is Abstractions, featuring music by Anna Clyne (Naxos).
Other recent releases include a live account of Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; a Kevin Puts collection with the Baltimore Symphony; and, with the Vienna RSO, a Margaret Brouwer collection, a complete Schumann symphonic cycle, and world premiere recordings of two concertos by Malek Jandali. In 2021, Alsop and The Philadelphia Orchestra released a live recording of highlights from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The 2020 recording of Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE, with soloist Inbal Segev and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alsop, has garnered over 12 million plays on Spotify.
In 2025, Alsop received the Golden Baton Award, the highest accolade conferred by the League of American Orchestras. In 2019, she received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. She also served as the 2021–22 Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence of the Aspen Institute Arts Program and as 2020 Artist-in-Residence at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. In collaboration with YouTube and Google Arts & Culture, she developed and spearheaded the “Global Ode to Joy,” a crowd-sourced video project to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020.
The Conductor, a feature documentary about Alsop’s life, debuted at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. It has been broadcast on PBS and screened at festivals and in theaters worldwide. The Conductor was nominated for an Emmy for Best Arts and Culture Documentary and received the Naples International Film Festival’s Focus on the Arts Award. The film is available on Apple TV, Google Play, iTunes, Prime Video, and Vimeo.
Alsop is the Director of the Graduate Conducting Program at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and holds honorary doctorates from Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and The Juilliard School.
Last updated October 2025
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
