Marin Alsop Takes New Vienna Post With Webern Chamber Orchestra

The American conductor Marin Alsop takes over next week as artistic director of the Webern Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, according to the music news site Slippedisc.

Alsop steps onto the podium with the ensemble, formally the Webern Kammerphilharmonie, for the first time in her new role in October. Slippedisc reports the debut under the heading "Marin Alsop takes new Vienna post," noting that she appears "als neue künstlerische Leiterin gemeinsam mit der Webern Kammerphilharmonie auf der Bühne" — as the new artistic director, on stage together with the Webern Chamber Philharmonic.

The appointment reunites Alsop with the Vienna institution where she already teaches. The orchestra is based at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Slippedisc reports. The university connection places Alsop's new artistic leadership directly alongside her existing academic role in the Austrian capital.

The ensemble itself is young by Viennese standards. The Webern Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2015, according to Slippedisc. That places it among the newer formations in a city whose orchestral life is dominated by older, larger institutions.

Alsop is no stranger to Austrian orchestras. Slippedisc identifies her as the former head of the Austrian radio orchestra. Her move to the Webern Chamber Orchestra marks a return to Vienna's musical life in a new capacity, this time leading a chamber orchestra embedded in one of the city's principal conservatories.

The October debut will be the first test of the new pairing. Whether Alsop's directorship reshapes the profile of the ten-year-old ensemble within Vienna's crowded orchestral landscape will become clear as her first season unfolds.