Where's Iggy?

I attended a wonderful concert by Marin Alsop and the BSO at the Music Center at Strathmore on Thursday, February 22, 2007. The event featured an evening of music by Baltimore native son Philip Glass in conjunction with a choreography of projected photos by Frans Lanting. The Washington Post gave a very nice review to the event.

The Post article failed to mention an amusing fact that was revealed by Marin Alsop during a question and answer session at the conclusion of the concert. While discussing the challenge of keeping the orchestra in sync with the slide show, Ms. Alsop mentioned that she had drawn figures of animals on her score to help her locate key sections in the performance. She noted that she particularly used a picture of an iguana in the photos as an anchor point since she once owned an iguana as a child named Iggy.

I continue to believe that attracting and hiring Ms. Alsop as the musical director of the BSO is the most exciting thing to happen to classical music in the metro DC area in decades. She is a very hot property and Baltimore and Strathmore are very lucky indeed to have secured her talents.

Now all we need is for Ms. Alsop to program a concert of that other Baltimore native son - Frank Zappa.