Marin Alsop, whose appointment as the next music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra generated international headlines - and local controversy - will today become one of 25 MacArthur fellows selected for 2005.
The "genius grant," given through the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in recognition of "creativity, originality and potential," comes with a no-strings award of $500,000.
"We picked Marin because she's a standout," said Daniel J. Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program. "She's truly creative. And there's every expectation she will become greater still."
In a statement announcing the selection of Alsop, the MacArthur Foundation praised "her masterful conducting technique and visionary artistic programming" and "extraordinary ability to communicate, both with her orchestra and with her audience."
The foundation also singled out Alsop's "musicality, her skill in making the unusual understandable, and championing of contemporary music." The conductor "defies stereotypes and offers a new model of leadership for orchestras in the U.S. and abroad."
The foundation notified the fellows of their selection before today's announcement.
"It was a big surprise, believe me," said Alsop, 48, reached in England, where she is principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. "I didn't know anything about it before getting the call last week. They said they had been looking at me for a few years, which is a great compliment unto itself."
The search committee for the MacArthur Foundation's Fellows Program reached its decision about Alsop as early as June, before the music world learned in mid-July that she would make history by becoming the first woman to head a major American orchestra when she assumes the BSO post in 2007.
Alsop's BSO appointment in July set off an unusual controversy, when up to 90 percent of the orchestra's players - without criticizing Alsop herself - objected publicly to the music director search process and what they labeled its premature close.
"We watched all the stuff happening in Baltimore with great interest," Socolow said, "but we were not be able to say anything."
Although the unrest between BSO management and musicians added an unexpected element to the story, the historic choice of Alsop still generated a public relations bonanza for the orchestra. Alsop was "Person of the Week" on ABC World News Tonight and featured in Time magazine and publications around the globe.
