Marin Alsop will take on the artistic leadership of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) at the start of the 2023-24 season. Currently Chief Conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, a post she will retain, Alsop will work closely with the NOSPR’s General and Programme Director, Ewa Bogusz-Moore, to shape the Orchestra’s programme and develop its national and international reputation. She first conducted the orchestra in February 2021 and since then has conducted 15 concerts, as well as leading a tour to Japan.

Commenting on the new post, Alsop said ‘I’m thrilled to accept this appointment and excited to continue our already thriving relationship. Our Japan tour last September and our ongoing recording and concert projects are part of a new vision for the 21st-century orchestra. Together with Director, Ewa Bogusz-Moore, I look forward to innovative projects such as Penderecki’s rarely performed Black Mask and recording the music of wonderful composers like Grażyna Bacewicz and Agata Zubel. NOSPR’s existing commitment to mentoring the next generations of musicians and conductors also aligns with my personal commitment to the future of classical music.’

Dating back to 1935, NOSPR was Poland’s first independent radio symphony orchestra and has been based in the city of Katowice since the 1940s. NOSPR’s home is a modern building designed by the Konior Studio of Katowice, comprising an 1800-seat concert hall, a chamber hall and numerous workshop and educational spaces. The concert hall, with acoustics designed by Nagata Acoustics, has a reputation as one of the world’s finest in terms of acoustics. 

Marin Alsop was Gramophone's Artist of the Year in 2003 and won a Gramophone Award in 2010 for her Naxos recording of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. She has held major conducting posts with the Bournemouth, Baltimore and São Paulo symphony orchestras, and is also the incumbent Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and she was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. In 2013, she was the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, and she returns this year again for the Last Night.