Philharmonia Orchestra announces Marin Alsop as principal guest conductor

The Philharmonia Orchestra has announced the appointment of Marin Alsop to the role of principal guest conductor. The American conductor joins the orchestra as it launches the first half of its 2023/24 London season.

Having performed with Alsop for three concerts over the past year, the Orchestra has made the choice to build a formal partnership with the conductor to nurture collaboration in the long term. Alsop will the Philharmonia’s artistic leadership team including principal conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen and honorary conductor for life Christoph von Dohnányi as well as with newly appointed principal guest conductor emeritus Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Philharmonia chief executive Thorben Dittes said: ‘I'm thrilled that Marin Alsop is joining the Philharmonia family. She has a tremendous stylistic versatility to bring to our music-making, paired with a passion for audience development. Adding Marin’s and Sir John Eliot’s distinctive, and complementary, artistic voices to that of Santtu, our principal conductor, creates a musical powerhouse of excellence and innovation on the Philharmonia platform.’

Alsop will balance her position with the Philharmonia with her work with orchestras across the world, with roles including chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, chief conductor and curator of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and conductor for Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer residencies.

Her first performance in her new role will be opening the Orchestra’s Let Freedom Ring series which in the upcoming season. The series, designed to celebrate American music will also include performances from the 2023-24 season’s featured artists violinist Nicola Benedetti and soprano Julia Bullock.

As principal guest conductor Alsop will develop three projects per season over the next three seasons, bringing innovation to the orchestra through new repertoire, exciting concert formats and unexpected modes of presentation.

Alsop said: ‘My work in London has been some of the most rewarding of my career. I am so looking forward to working more closely with this innovative, forward-thinking orchestra to create programmes and projects that draw from its long history of exceptional music making and continue to embrace the new and the bold.’

You can find out more about the Philharmonia’s upcoming 2023-24 season here.