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By Kyle MacMillan
Marin Alsop reveals
and revels in
Leonard Bernstein’s
everlasting power
Faith
Keeping
the
, Ravinia began looking ahead to the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s
birth. Knowing the milestone would be a massive worldwide event, Welz Kauffman, the president and chief
executive officer of Ravinia, was eager for the summer festival to contribute in a meaningful and distinctive
way. And he knew exactly who should be his partner in the project—internationally recognized conductor
Marin Alsop, one of Bernstein’s last protégés and his only female one.
“I thought, what I want for the Ravinia audience, if we can pull it off, is somebody who’s going to see the full
picture of Bernstein, had a personal relationship with him and can conduct the stuff like crazy. I want some-
body who I enjoy talking to. There’s selfishness to it, I guess. I’ve just always found her to be extraordinary,”
says Kauffman, who was an artistic administrator with the New York Philharmonic when Alsop made her
guest-conducting debut there in December 1999 as part of an Aaron Copland festival.
In addition to holding a succession of conducting posts, including her current roles as music director of the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil,
Alsop has followed Bernstein’s beat as an articulate spokeswoman and innovative advocate for classical music.
She has also been a leading champion of his music; a boxed set of her complete Bernstein recordings on the
Naxos label was released earlier this year. As a testament to her multifaceted accomplishments, she is the only
conductor to win a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”—an honor she received in 2005.
In May 2017, Ravinia announced the appointment of Alsop as Ravinia’s first-ever artistic curator for its
multi-year celebration of Bernstein’s centennial. She and Kauffman have collaborated on six concerts featur-
ing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra between July 12 and August 19 this season, as well as discussions and
other supporting events with members of Bernstein’s family and his biographer Humphrey Burton, among
over a dozen concerts that tie back to the great American musician. “I’m running around the world doing all
of these Bernstein celebrations,” Alsop says, “but this will be unique because we can really focus in one place
during a rather condensed period of time.”
It is no surprise that thousands of events globally are scheduled this year in tribute to Bernstein, whose
legacy only seems to grow with each passing year since his death in 1990. In a 2011 poll of 100 top maestros by
BBC Music Magazine
, he was named the second-greatest conductor ever—a high-flying ranking that would
alone assure him immortality. But his prowess on the podium was only the start of what made him such
an extraordinary figure—“a kind of miracle man,” in Kauffman’s words. The challenge for him and Alsop
was getting a handle on his wide-ranging accomplishments and conveying them in a concise, cogent way to
Ravinia attendees.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 9 – JULY 22, 2018
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