A Trailblazing Female Conductor Is Still Alone on the Trail

As Marin Alsop leaves the Baltimore Symphony after 14 years, the field is taking a step backward: 25 major American orchestras, no female music directors.

BALTIMORE — On Saturday, June 5, a steamy evening here, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gave a small, socially distanced concert to celebrate two milestones. It was a beginning: the orchestra’s first performance for a live audience in 15 months, and a long-awaited “return to what we’re here for,” as Marin Alsop, the ensemble’s music director, told the audience. It was also an ending: the first of three farewell programs with which Alsop, 64, will conclude her 14-year tenure. In that time she has brought Baltimore artistic successes and arguably the most impressive education program of any ensemble in the country.