The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will showcase art, literature and science displays by students from Anne Arundel and Baltimore County Schools in an exhibit celebrating the beauty and diversity of nature. Running in conjunction with the Orchestra?s presentation of LIFE: A Journey Through Time, the exhibit will open on Thursday, January 26 at 4 p.m. in the main lobby of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and remain on display through the duration of the concert series. The exhibit will include paintings, photography, sculpture, poetry, prose, research and more by students from schools including Pikesville Middle School and Carver Center for the Arts. Its opening will be attended by the students and their families, along with BSO Music Director Marin Alsop and National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting, whose breathtaking photographs are the focal point of and inspiration for Baltimore-native Philip Glass? composition. Please see below for complete event details.
A truly unique, multimedia interpretation of Earth?s diversity, LIFE: A Journey Through Time brings skillfully choreographed music by Philip Glass to the photos of Franz Lanting. It received rave reviews when Marin Alsop and the BSO presented the East Coast premiere in 2007. This stunning composition returns on Friday, January 27 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. In addition, an abbreviated version created especially for families with children ages 5 and up will be performed as part of the Family Concert Series on Saturday, February 4 at 11 a.m. Please see below for complete concert details.
Marin Alsop, conductor
Hailed as one of the world?s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002-2008, and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.
In 2005, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this prestigious award. In 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award, in 2008 she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2009 Musical America named her ?Conductor of the Year.? In November 2010, she was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Marin Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinf?nica do estado de S?o Paulo (OSESP), or the S?o Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-13 season. Ms. Alsop was named to Guardian?s Top 100 Women list in March 2011. In 2011 Marin Alsop was named an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London, England.
A regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Alsop appears frequently as a guest conductor with the most distinguished orchestras around the world. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award-winning cycles of Brahms, Barber and Dvo??k.
Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her master?s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.
Frans Lanting, photographer
Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For three decades he has documented wildlife from the Amazon to Antarctica to promote understanding about the Earth and its natural history through images that convey a passion for nature and a sense of wonder about our living planet.
Lanting's work has been commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he served as a Photographer-in-Residence. In 2006, Lanting launched The LIFE Project, a lyrical interpretation of the history of life on Earth, as a book, an exhibition, a website, and a multimedia orchestral performance with music by Philip Glass. The multimedia production of LIFE premiered in Santa Cruz, California, in 2006 and is currently touring North America and Europe.
Lanting's books have received awards and acclaim: "No one turns animals into art more completely than Frans Lanting," writes The New Yorker. His books include LIFE: A Journey Through Time (2006), Jungles (2000), Penguin (1999), Living Planet (1999), Eye to Eye (1997), Bonobo (1997), Okavango: Africa's Last Eden (1993), Forgotten Edens (1993), and Madagascar, A World Out of Time (1990). Lanting serves on the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund and on the Chairman?s Council of Conservation International, and he is a Trustee of the Foundation Board of the University of California Santa Cruz. Lanting has received numerous awards for his work, including top honors from World Press Photo, the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the Sierra Club?s Ansel Adams Award. He has been honored as a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in London and is a recipient of Sweden?s Lennart Nilsson Award. In 2001 H.R.H. Prince Bernhard inducted him as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands' highest conservation honor.
COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS
LIFE: A Journey through Time Student Exhibition
Thursday, January 26, 2012?event opening at 4 p.m. in the main lobby of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
The exhibition opening is free and open to the public. Members of the media are invited to attend the event opening and take photos and video. Interview opportunities with Frans Lanting, Marin Alsop and participating students are also available. Please contact Laura Farmer at 410.783.8024 for more details or upon your arrival to the Meyerhoff.
COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS
BSO Classical Concert: LIFE: A Journey Through Time
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 8 p.m. ? Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH)
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 8 p.m. ? Music Center at Strathmore
Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 3 p.m. ? JMSH
Marin Alsop, conductor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, ?Pastoral?
Philip Glass: LIFE: A Journey Through Time
Tickets range from $ 28 to $ 88 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.
COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS
BSO Family Concert: LIFE: A Journey Through Time
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11 a.m. ? Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Marin Alsop, conductor
Philip Glass: LIFE: A Journey Through Time
Tickets range from $ 12 to $ 20 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.
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