The Conductor

The Conductor pulls the curtain back on the mysterious art of conducting and shows how a conductor becomes the conduit for a composer’s message. The Marin Alsop that unfolds before us is a person who makes no secret about the fact that she fought every moment of her life to achieve her place in the classical music world.
Throughout the film we meet both people who inspired her and the next generation of musicians to whom she is committed, like Valentina Peleggi who was taught and mentored by Marin. We feel the link between Alsop’s empathy for the struggles of these young talents and the hurdles she faced in becoming a conductor with no
female role models.

Towards the end of the film we find Marin in Vienna, where she performs for the first time as Chief-conductor of her new orchestra, the RSO Vienna. Vienna itself presents new challenges. “I am not a good person for places with a lot of rules and traditions,” she says. “Rules can feel like a straight-jacket to me,”she adds. Like Bernstein’s love-hate relationship with Vienna as the birthplace of classical music, as viewers we understand the challenge that the maestra is about to face:to find her own way of coming to the world capital of classical music and still stay true to herself as a rebel and innovator.

Marin Alsop blows up the idea of a stodgy and elitist classical canon with her devotion to mentoring young people for whom race, gender, or economic class has been a barrier to musical achievement and leaves you rooting for the future of kids, teachers, music and Baltimore. The Conductor, which tells the incredible life story of
Marin Alsop the conductor and musical innovator, ultimately becomes a metaphor for passion, leadership and the role that we all play in giving “outsiders” a chance.