Marin Alsop, the former music director of the Colorado Symphony and the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, was one of 25 people chosen for this year’s $500,000 “genius grants” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The maestro is joined by people as varied as a lobsterman from Maine and an oncologist from Nigeria in winning the awards. The recipients, who were named Monday, can use the money however they wish.
“It was an enormous surprise when they called me last Wednesday,” Alsop said by e-mail from Prague, Czech Republic, where she is leading two concerts with the Bournemouth (England) Symphony.
“I hadn’t a clue! I am honored beyond belief and hope to maximize the award to make some projects happen that I simply wouldn’t have a chance at getting off the ground,” she said.
Alsop, 48, continues to keep a residence in Denver, where she holds the CSO’s honorary title of conductor laureate. In July, she was named music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, making her the first woman to lead one of the so-called major American symphonies.
While the MacArthur Foundation does not provide specifics about why it chooses recipients, Alsop has proved herself to be devoted to new music, especially works that traverse traditional stylistic boundaries. In 1984, for example, she founded the New York-based Concordia, an innovative orchestra that emphasizes jazz and crossover classical. And she oversaw the creation of “Too Hot to Handel,” an update of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” with an overlay of blues, rock and gospel.
Seven other Coloradans have received the fellowships since 1981, the most recent being Deborah Shiu-lan Jin, a Boulder physicist, who won in 2003.
Other recipients of this year’s awards include:
Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade, who left Nigeria for Chicago as a young woman and became an international leader in breast cancer research.
Lobsterman and fisherman Ted Ames, 66. Ames was disturbed by the threat to the fishery ecosystem from overharvesting and conducts detailed scientific studies of spawning, habitat and fishing patterns.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
