Baltimore Symphony focusing the season on women

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra はアメリカでは Major の1つに数えられるOrchestra ですが，女流指揮者　Marin Alsop がMusic Director として活躍していることでも知られています．

そのBSO が2011～2012シーズンを「女性」に焦点を当てようということです．その1つが西海岸ツアーと Carnegie Hall （Alsopとして4度目の）公演で，a semi-staged version of Honegger's "Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher," a Joan of Arc oratorio that's a centerpiece of this year's "woman" theme, coinciding with the 600th anniversary of Joan's birth in 2012. ということです．

その他では，女流作曲家とソリストの発掘にも力を入れていくようで，Joan Tower (with her ubiquitous "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman"), Jennifer Higdon (with her percussion concerto), and Carmen -- Sarasate's "Carmen" Fantasy, that is, but performed by a woman, Madeline Adkins.

Richard Einhorn's choral-orchestral hit "Voices of Light"．The orchestra has also commissioned a new "women's work" from a local composer: James Lee III has written "Chuphshah! Harriet's Drive to Canaan," about Harriet Tubman. 

the BSO can make a virtue of introducing new female soloists: Olga Kern and Lise de la Salle on piano, Arabella Steinbacher on violin, and sopranos Joyce El-Khoury and Layla Claire. Hilary Hahn (both local and a woman) will play the Mendelssohn concerto at the season-opening gala on September 10, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will play the Tchaikovsky concerto at the season's last subscription concert on June 7-10.

Hilary Hahn (both local and a woman) will play the Mendelssohn concerto at the season-opening gala on September 10, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will play the Tchaikovsky concerto at the season's last subscription concert on June 7-10.

多士済々ですが，1つ欠けているモノとして，One thing missing from the focus on women: although Alsop is certainly conducting the lion's share of this season's programs, there are no other female guest conductors. とAlsop 以外の女流指揮者の登場がないことが指摘されています．

 

 

Posted at 8:55 AM ET, 03/ 2/2011

BSO does strong woman number in 2011-12

By Anne Midgette

The good news is that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is focusing its 2011-12 season on women. The bad news, which the orchestra is tacitly trying to address with this good season, is that women are still enough of a breed apart in classical music that they count as a theme rather than, well, 50% of the offerings.

If anyone's aware of this, it's Marin Alsop, the first woman to serve as music director of a major American orchestra (though JoAnn Falletta, of the Virginia and Buffalo orchestras, would contest the definition of "major"). Alsop is using her podium cannily, extending the initial buzz around her appointment in 2007-08 with canny programming that helps get the orchestra exposure. The upcoming season sees both a West Coast tour and another Carnegie Hall appearance -- the orchestra's fourth since Alsop took over -- with a semi-staged version of Honegger's "Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher," a Joan of Arc oratorio that's a centerpiece of this year's "woman" theme, coinciding with the 600th anniversary of Joan's birth in 2012.

Richard Einhorn's choral-orchestral hit "Voices of Light" is the season's other Joan highlight; it will be played as live accompaniment to Carl Dreyer's magisterial silent film "The Passion of Joan of Arc," its original inspiration. The orchestra has also commissioned a new "women's work" from a local composer: James Lee III has written "Chuphshah! Harriet's Drive to Canaan," about Harriet Tubman.

Other featured women include Joan Tower (with her ubiquitous "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman"), Jennifer Higdon (with her percussion concerto), and Carmen -- Sarasate's "Carmen" Fantasy, that is, but performed by a woman, Madeline Adkins.

Because it's a women's season, the BSO can make a virtue of introducing new female soloists: Olga Kern and Lise de la Salle on piano, Arabella Steinbacher on violin, and sopranos Joyce El-Khoury and Layla Claire. Hilary Hahn (both local and a woman) will play the Mendelssohn concerto at the season-opening gala on September 10, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will play the Tchaikovsky concerto at the season's last subscription concert on June 7-10.

Alsop has developed a number of programming elements at the BSO which continue as a feature this season. There are four "Off the Cuff" concerts, in which Alsop discusses and parses a single significant work (this year's focuses are Copland's "Appalachian Spring," Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra," Prokofiev's 5th symphony and Shostakovich's 7th). There is also a focus on living composers (Kevin Puts's 4th symphony, James MacMillan's "The Confessions of Isobel Gowdie," a new work called "Charm" by David T. Little); there are more multimedia performances (Philip Glass's LIFE: A Journey Through Time, as well as the "Voices of Light" concert); and there are more circuses ("Holiday Cirque de la Symphonie" in December).

One thing missing from the focus on women: although Alsop is certainly conducting the lion's share of this season's programs, there are no other female guest conductors.

By Anne Midgette  | March 2, 2011; 8:55 AM ET