If there?s truth to the saying “One good turn deserves another,” then Marin Alsop of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has hit the baton out of the ballpark.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity [Alsop] has given me this year in choosing me as her fellow in the Taki Concordia Fellowship,” Rei Hotoda said. “[It] will give me the chance to be in front of a first-rate orchestra like the Baltimore Symphony.”
Indeed, she will be front and center this weekend, conducting the “Fanfare Ritmico,” by contemporary female composer Jennifer Higdon. It is a piece Hotoda feels “is so exciting that audiences will be charged after hearing it [and] its intense rhythmic jazzy diversions.”
In addition, the program features two masterpieces, Dvorak?s “Symphony No. 9” (“From the New World”) and Sir Edward Elgar?s “Cello Concerto,” performed by Alicia Weilerstein.
Commenting on the Concordia Conducting Fellowship, which she founded in 2002,Alsop has said, “I have never ascribed to the philosophy that it was tough for me so it will be tough for you. My philosophy is: It was tough for me so that I could make it easier for you.”
Now in its fourth season, the fellowship offers a promising young woman the opportunity to study with Alsop and to conduct selected works with various orchestras.
“Most definitely [Alsop] is my mentor and I hope to continually learn and ?soak in? some of her power and strength on the podium,” Hotoda said.
Higdon noted of the “Fanfare Ritmico” it celebrates that rhythmic motion of man and machine, and the energy that permeates every moment of our being in the new century.”
Elgar?s “Cello Concerto in E minor” is the composer?s elegy to the lives lost in World War I. The 25-year-old American cellist Alisa Weilerstein looks forward to her second appearance with the BSO, and of the piece has commented, “Every time I turn to it, there?s something new to discover. It is so emotionally rich.”
IF YOU GO
Wonder Women
» Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore; 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
» Time: 8 p.m. Thursday
» Tickets: Strathmore $21 to $80, call 877-BSO-1444
» Venue: Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall; 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore
» Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: Meyerhoff $25 to $78, call 410-783-8000
