| Biography | Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of both the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Alsop was born to professional musician parents, and was educated at the Masters School. She attended Yale University, but later transferred to the Juilliard School, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in violin. While studying, she played with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Ballet. She founded the string ensemble String Fever in 1981. In 1984, Alsop founded Concordia, a 50-piece orchestra specializing in 20th century American music. She won the Koussevitzky Prize as outstanding student conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1989, where she met her hero and future mentor Leonard Bernstein. |