Marin Alsop Wins Gramophone Artist of the Year
Naxos favourite Marin
Alsop took the top prize at the Gramophone Awards on Sunday, 10 October by
winning the coveted Artist of the Year Award. The Gramophone Awards,
considered by many to be the highest honours in the classical music industry,
were awarded in a ceremony in London’s Barbican Hall.
This year marked a change
in the voting process for the award, with Gramophone choosing a selection of
musicians who have had a significant impact on culture in the past year and
asking readers to vote for their choice via the magazine or gramophone.co.uk.
According to Gramophone, Alsop quickly took the lead during week two of voting
and “never looked back.”
With
true conducting talent combined with an incredible gift for communication, it
is no wonder that Alsop has won the hearts – and the votes – of music fans the
world over. Her other conquests include the North American media, with
frequent contributions to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, a guest spot
on Good Morning, America, and a recent appearance on CBC Radio 2, as well as
the British press, who lauded her debut season with the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra. Gramophone editor James Jolly profiled her for the cover story of
the October 2003 issue of Gramophone, and she won the Royal Philharmonic
Society’s Conductor’s Award in 2002 for her work with Bournemouth.
Alsop says she is “thrilled” about
being Artist of the Year, and cites her relationship with Naxos as one that is
“rewarding because it allows me the breadth of repertoire that I need to grow
and develop and be fulfilled as an artist along with the opportunity to work
with a wide range of orchestras.” Still occasionally finding time to play jazz
violin with friends in New York and to maintain a busy guest conducting schedule in
addition to her permanent positions, Alsop also has made several acclaimed
recordings for the Naxos American Classics series, including works by Barber,
Bernstein, and Torke. According to Gramophone Editor James Jolly, “Her Barber
series with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra has won many friends. Not
only is the music instantly accessible but the passion she brings to it sweeps
you up. For her first recording with her new orchestra, the Bournemouth
Symphony, she chose the music of her mentor, Leonard Bernstein. She brings to
it the same immediacy and zest that characterised Bernstein’s own
performances.” The new Bernstein disc, which features the memorable Chichester
Psalms, along with the exuberant On the Town and On the
Waterfront, appears on both UK and US classical charts.
Next
year holds even more promises of success for Alsop, who calls 2003-2004 a
“major” season. Guest appearances across the U.S. and a major European tour with the
Bournemouth Symphony highlight the year, which ends with a production of Adams’ Nixon in China
in June with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as well as several summer music festivals. Although
she is the newly-christened Gramophone Artist of the Year and the first female
conductor of a major British orchestra, Alsop needs no moniker to make herself
known—her conducting speaks for itself.
For
a complete list of this year’s Gramophone Award winners, go to www.gramophone.co.uk.
For more information:
www.marinalsop.com
www.naxos.com/chichesterpsalms
Chichester
Memories - Reflections on a Choral Masterpiece
