Qualla: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1916, it was unique among major American orchestras in one specific way: it was a branch of municipal government, paid for and overseen by the City of Baltimore itself. Every other big-city orchestra in the United States was a private institution from the start. The BSO went private in 1942 but kept the close relationships with state and local government that the original arrangement had built. The orchestra performs more than 130 concerts a year at its principal residence, the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and another 35 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda - making it, since 2005, the country's first orchestra with year-round venues in two metropolitan areas.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Joseph Meyerhoff's Orchestra

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The modern BSO dates from 1965, when Baltimore real estate developer and arts patron Joseph Meyerhoff became president of the orchestra. He held the position for eighteen years. Meyerhoff hired the Romanian conductor Sergiu Comissiona as music director in 1969. Under Comissiona's...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: David Zinman's Tour Years

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

David Zinman took over from Comissiona in 1985 and held the music directorship for thirteen years. Zinman's BSO became one of the most-recorded American orchestras of its time, with major recordings on Telarc, Argo/London, and Sony Classical. The orchestra won Grammy Awards in 19...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Marin Alsop's Fourteen Years

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the BSO announced Marin Alsop as its next music director in 2005, she became the first woman ever appointed to lead a major American orchestra. The decision was controversial within the orchestra - some musicians felt they had been excluded from the search process, and the d...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Crisis and Survival

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The orchestra has been under chronic financial pressure for years. In summer 2019, management locked out the musicians during a contract dispute over whether the BSO would remain a 52-weeks-per-year ensemble - the structure that defines the country's top orchestras. The lockout e...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Heyward's Era

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Jonathon Heyward, an American conductor born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1992, first guest-conducted the BSO in March 2022. He returned the following month for a charity concert benefiting Ukraine. In July 2022, the orchestra announced his appointment as the next music direc...