Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop Appointed First-Ever Music Director of the National Orchestra Institute + Festival
The trailblazing conductor will innovate programming, conduct multiple concerts and mentor emerging musicians.
The National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F), a program of the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, today announces the appointment of renowned conductor Marin Alsop as its first-ever music director. Alsop will lead a newly formed conductor academy and conduct multiple concerts each June with the NOI+F Philharmonic. Recognized internationally for her innovative approach to programming, she will enliven the classics and spotlight new American and contemporary composers, focusing on women as well as Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) composers. One of the nation’s leading summer festivals, NOI+F brings together emerging orchestral musicians from across the country for a month of music-making and professional exploration.
During Alsop’s first year of music directorship, repertoire will include works by prominent composers Jessie Montgomery, an alumna of NOI+F; Gabriela Lena Frank; Brian Raphael Nabors; and Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis ’08. Frank leads NOI+F’s Composer Training Program, and Nabors serves as a faculty member in the program.
Alsop has a history of supporting the 34-year-old festival, serving as guest conductor each season from 1993-2000.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to join NOI+F in this new role. I deeply value the opportunity to work with these brilliant young musicians to share the joy of music-making and create a vibrant future for orchestras,” said Alsop.
Alsop made history as the first woman to head a major American orchestra as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In Baltimore, she continued her life-long commitment to education and to demystifying orchestral music—both central to NOI+F’s mission. Alsop launched OrchKids music program to serve Baltimore’s youth, founded the Taki Alsop fellowship to support women conductors and is also the director of graduate conducting at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute.