Interview: Marin Alsop conductor of São Paulo Orchestra

At the age of nine she decided to become a conductor. Some years later she became the first woman to conduct a major American orchestra. Marin Alsop, one time Leonard Bernstein student, is now one of the world’s leading conductors. A successful music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra who, from 2012, will also lead the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Clarissa Mattos spoke with her. “The eyes of the world are upon Brazil. I want to be there, I want to build something.”

We can almost say that Marin Alsop was predestined to be a musician.  As an only child of two professional classical musicians, she was encouraged in all possible ways to find her musicality. Her father was a violinist and her mother a cellist. Alsop retired from the piano when she was only 6. But there was a violin on her way, which would push her horizons far beyond being an instrumentalist, allied with a singular event in her childhood. “The turning point was when I listened to Leonard Bernstein when I was nine. My father took me to his concert.  When I saw him I knew I wanted to be a conductor”.

Leonard Bernstein

Just like all teenagers at her age, Marin Alsop had posters of The Beatles on the wall of her bedroom.  But the famous band had to share wall space with a poster of Leonard Bernstein.  From her wall, the idol jumped into her life as a mentor. A rare encounter that changed the way she saw and experienced music. “He was a storyteller and he made me see that every piece of music has a story that deserves to be told.”

When Alsop talks about Bernstein, the admiration in her confident voice is almost touchable: “His unbridled enthusiasm and his commitment were contagious. He was involved in so many causes; a real citizen of the world. That’s why I try to keep my music interesting and relevant. My music needs to be a microcosm of the world”

First Woman

In 2005 Alsop was appointed as Music Director of the internationally acclaimed Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The partnership between Marin and the BSO made history. This was the trampoline for a new age for the orchestra and also to Marin’s career. She became the first woman to lead a major American Orchestra, which was facing financial challenges and not recording for more than ten years. Alsop addressed the problems with innovative artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music.

The year of 2007 was a remarkable one. The acclaimed inaugural concerts as music director took place in September and the orchestra announced a 40% increase in new subscription sales in comparison with 2005.

With so many achievements in such a conservative industry, Marin Alsop does not stress the “first-woman” issue: “Actually there are more women conducting than ever, but not in the higher range. There are so few opportunities. I believe this is all about conditioning. Our society is not conditioned to see a woman in a leadership role. These things change slowly. It’s a question of comfort level. I believe that once we are used to seeing a woman in the highest position, as a president, for example, there will be less issues. I was also the first woman to assume a direction of a major orchestra in the United Kingdom. The reaction was different there. At this time, a woman was the Prime Minister.  Now in Brazil the same story happens again. There we have president Mrs Dilma Russef. I believe it also makes a difference.”

Do feminine skills make a difference as a conductor? She expresses her doubts: “The female sense of diplomacy possibly can help in the conductor role but I prefer not to make generalisations. I prefer to believe that there is a new order in society which is open to the qualities that women can bring to the table.”

Brazil

Born in New York City, the 56-year Marin Alsop, has been named as the new chief conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) from the start of the 2012 season. Alsop’s contract with the Baltimore Symphony was renewed until 2015. She will assume the position at OSESP along with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  Founded in 1954, the 109-string São Paulo Symphony performs over ninety concerts per year at the Sala São Paulo, an imposing 1500-seat hall, which was created from a former railway station and inaugurated in 1999 with a concert by the OSESP.  The Orchestra counts with eleven thousand subscribers and runs educational programmes attended by nearly eighty thousand students every year. The orchestra has released thirty CDs in Brazil.

Coming from one of biggest cities in the world, she was impressed by Brazil’s most populous city and economical centre. “My first impression of São Paulo was a sense of feeling overwhelmed by the vastness; the concrete; the graffiti, the traffic, the sprawl of the city.  Now I love the energy and grittiness of the city. It reminds me of growing up in NYC in the 70s!”

Brazil is living a very fast paced period and seems to be in synergy with São Paulo’s Latin motto: Non dvcor, dvco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead." Alsop thinks that this is the perfect time to be in the biggest country of South America “Brazil lives a period of economical and cultural growth. I love Brazil! People are warm, genuine and sincere. Also hungry for culture! Classical music in Brazil is a challenge by itself but the concerts are packed with enthusiastic and engaged people. The world is looking to Brazil. I want to be part of this moment, I want to build something”

A treasure to be discovered

The Portuguese discovered Brazil in the 15th century and Brazil is about to be discovered by Marin Alsop. Obviously she has been mostly in São Paulo but she has been in the Amazon region with her family and had the chance to meet the Neojibá Orchestra in Salvador “I am not yet directly involved with any social projects, but will be deeply involved with pedagogy at the Campos do Jordão Festival this year.  I have visited the Guri Program and flew to Salvador to spend time conducting the kids at Neojibá Orchestra. I am currently immersing myself and understanding what is going on there.”

As a Brazilian popular music and American jazz lover, she is exploring all possibilities. “Brazilian music is a treasure to be revealed. These are the composers I have discovered so far: Guarnieri, Mignone, Edu Lobo, Lorenzo Fernandez. But I have just begun this journey and there seems to be a wealth of artists to discover! Brazil is filled with talent and warmth.”

Musicians are musicians, always and everywhere

Baltimore, New York, London, São Paulo, Amsterdam, Alsop has been conducting orchestras everywhere. She is a principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony and a regular guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Alsop also conducts every season the London Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras. She works with musicians from all over the world and she can find more similarities than differences.

“Musicians share an international language. In São Paulo the general condition of the city is reflected in the attitude of the Orchestra. They work round the clock and, at the same time, they are flexible, positive and focused on the future. In Baltimore, the concerns are more a day-to-day struggle like fund raising, for instance. The Orchestra is in another stage but musicians are musicians, always and everywhere!”

Alsop is also the music director of Cabrillo Festival in California and now the Winter Festival in Gramado in Brazil, among other activities like radio programs.  She explains how she can keep her busy agenda: “It’s a little bit crazy. Actually each project with which I am involved is in a different stage. They require different levels of investment. The Cabrillo Festival exists already for twenty years. It is well established and it is also built only in summer.  Baltimore Symphony is going very well. We have terrific synergy and now comes the OSESP. So they are not built at the same pace. They are in different stages and one stage is informative to the next. You have to invest somewhere. I want to build something.”

Achieving the impossible

A conductor, without saying a word, must communicate with the musicians and standing, with the back to the audience, has to pass on the message and emotion to the public. That is exactly what attracts Alsop to her profession. “It’s quite mysterious and abstract. It’s magical. To be a conductor you have to read and understand someone else’s creation. Try to motivate the musicians as the composer wanted to. It is a multilayer process. The opportunity to inspire and get the most out of the individuals performances for the greater good. This is a shared mission which starts by respecting the composer. The conductor is the messenger who has the chance to shape the understanding of the audience, by sharing his or her vision of the story. When it happens, the impossible has been achieved.”

The Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo (OSESP) seems to bring another impulse to Marin Alsop’s successful and impressive trajectory. “It is all about possibilities. That is what interests me. I was really impressed when I conducted the São Paulo Symphony last year as a guest. The musicians are highly committed to perform on a higher level. The Orchestra is very responsive and so is the audience. This is certainly a first quality orchestra and a fascinating next step in my career.”

Alsop wants to bring the orchestra to perform on different international stages. This summer the group will tour in Europe and they will perform in The Netherlands on 19th August, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Text by Clarissa Mattos  ||  Photo by NC

Amsterdam, August 2012