The Cabrillo Festival has announced to the press and public that Maestra Marin Alsop will step down as Music Director and Conductor following her 25th anniversary season, August 2016. As a Festival audience member, donor, fan, participant, and/or volunteer, we wanted to communicate with you directly. We know you will join us in expressing our tremendous appreciation to Marin for the work she has done to build the Festival Orchestra, grow our devoted audience, and secure the Festival organization to the point of great strength and impact it now enjoys.
Twenty-five years is a long time in anyone’s life and Marin’s devotion to this community throughout her remarkable career has been unparalleled. She has made this difficult decision with love and with full confidence that our next era will build upon the strong foundation she has helped establish. She shares these thoughts with you:
A message from Marin:
It is with great sadness and after much contemplation that I make this decision, but it feels like the right time for me and for the Festival. These past 24 years have been a truly amazing journey of joy for me, building the orchestra and the audience to the point where the Cabrillo Festival is now the leading new music festival in the world! These festivals have been among the most wonderfully rewarding experiences of my career and I look forward to the 2016 season when we’ll celebrate all that we have accomplished together. Cabrillo Festival’s reputation as a mecca for new music stands on its own and there is no question that it will enjoy an enormously bright future ahead!
The 2016 season will be a celebration of Marin and her profound musical legacy and artistic imprint on the Festival. The Board of Directors and staff are already designing an artistic leadership transition process, and will work to include as many voices as possible as we plan for our future.
We are so grateful, too, for your support and confidence. The Festival has always been about the new and is supported by audiences and musicians who embrace a shared sense of discovery and risk. And so we move toward our future with our trademark sense of adventurousness! Marin is excited about the 2016 season and we can’t wait to hear her special 25th anniversary program performed by the award-winning Festival Orchestra.
In the meantime, we will keep you posted about our planning and our progress. Together we will relish our final season with Marin and anticipate a vibrant next chapter in the life of this extraordinary organization.
Thank you and best regards from all of us at the Cabrillo Festival,
Jim Petersen
Cabrillo Festival Board President
Ellen Primack
Cabrillo Festival Executive Director