Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md.- XM, the satellite radio service with more than 8 million subscribers, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announced today that XM will broadcast eight performances during the Baltimore Symphony’s 2007-2008 season on XM Classics (XM 110), one of XM’s three classical music channels. The series will debut with a live broadcast on September 27, 2007, the inaugural concert of the music directorship of Marin Alsop, the dynamic conductor who that evening will become the first female music director of a major American orchestra. This series marks the BSO’s foray into satellite radio, gaining exposure for the orchestra to a much broader national audience as it enters a new artistic chapter under Marin Alsop.
The historic inaugural concert marking Maestra Alsop’s directorship features John Adams’ Fearful Symmetries, and a hallmark of Alsop’s repertoire, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, and will be broadcast live on XM Classics from the Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda, Md. at 8 p.m.
ET on Thursday, September 27, with an encore broadcast on Sunday, September 30, at 3 p.m. ET. The live broadcast will be the first of its kind at the Music Center at Strathmore since the performing arts venue opened in February 2005. Beginning in January, the remaining seven concerts in the BSO series will air on the first Friday of each month at 9 p.m. ET. Encore broadcasts will air the following Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. The series is scheduled to be repeated in its entirety over eight consecutive weeks in July and August.
(See program schedule below)
The BSO series, hosted by XM Classics Program Director Martin Goldsmith, will provide listeners with the unique opportunity to attend concerts by one of America’s finest orchestras. The broadcasts will feature insightful interviews with Marin Alsop, world-renowned soloists, BSO musicians, and many of today’s most distinguished composers. The initial eight concerts will reflect the exciting and innovative programs characteristic of Alsop’s first full season with the BSO. The remarkable season is highlighted by performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies and music by eleven living composers, in addition to the standard classical repertoire.
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“I am enormously proud XM will share these eight concerts by one of America’s premier orchestras, with XM listeners across North America,”
said Goldsmith. “XM Classics is committed to making the world of classical music more approachable, and has traveled to bring concerts from all over the world to our listeners. It will be a particularly exciting and historic night when we broadcast Marin Alsop’s first concert as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony. Marin’s gifts as a communicative artist are unique in today’s classical music world, and I look forward to our collaboration.”
“The BSO is proud to launch its presence on XM Radio,” commented Marin Alsop. “XM is respected for its quality programming and with Martin Goldsmith, listeners enjoy program commentary from one of the most knowledgeable classical music radio hosts in the business. The format of our new program will give unique context to XM listeners, by introducing them to the individual artists and composers, sharing their personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories, and tapping deeper into the artists’ mind and the music. Our aim is to connect people to the power of classical music, and bring the thrill of the live concert hall experience through on air.”
In addition to the live inaugural concert at Strathmore on September 27, XM Classics will broadcast a series of seven select concerts from the 2007-2008 season led by conductor Marin Alsop from the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. The series broadcast schedule includes:
Marin Alsop’s Opening Concert as Baltimore Symphony Music Director (Series
Debut)
LIVE Broadcast: Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 8 p.m. (Live from Strathmore)
Encore: September 30, 2007 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
John Adams: Fearful Symmetries
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Original Broadcast: Friday, January 4, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Timothy Fain, violin
Aaron Jay Kernis: Lament and Prayer
Aaron Jay Kernis: Newly Drawn Sky
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6
Original Broadcast: Friday, February 1, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto
Dvor??k: Symphony No. 8
Original Broadcast: Friday, March 7, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion
Strauss: Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Steven Mackey: Time Release
Debussy: Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun
Stravinsky: Firebird, 1919 Suite
Original Broadcast: Friday, April 4, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Emily Skala, flute
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3
Christopher Rouse: Flute Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Original Broadcast: Friday, May 2, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
William Wolfram, piano
John Corigliano: To Music
John Corigliano: Piano Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”
Original Broadcast: Friday, June 6, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Encore: Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
Barber: Medea’s Dance of Vengeance
Orff: Carmina Burana
Original Broadcast: Friday, June 27, 2008 at 9 p.m.*
Encore: Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
Joan Tower: Concerto for Orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
*Editor’s Note: The Friday, June 27 program will air one week earlier due to the July 4th holiday.
Complete programming information for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra broadcasts on XM is available online at http://xmclassics.xmradio.com
XM Classics provides listeners with opportunities to hear concerts from around the world, including special broadcasts from Austria to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday, and has aired concerts by sterling orchestras from Chicago, Detroit, New York, Vienna, and Tel Aviv.
