Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Performs Score to Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, April 15-17

The Gold Rush film to be shown in its entirety

Baltimore, Md. (March 22, 2011) - BSO Music Director Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the original musical score from Charlie Chaplin'sThe Gold Rush on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore and Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Gold Rush, the film that Chaplin repeatedly stated he wanted to be most remembered for, will be shown in its entirety on a screen above the orchestra. Please see below for complete program details.

Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush was nominated in 1943 for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording for its musical score he created with the assistance of Max Terr. Previously, the film had been entirely silent, but among the edits that Chaplin made for the re-release of his favorite film was the addition of the music score. Set during the time of the Klondike Gold Rush, the film was one of the first of Chaplin's classics to be converted into sound and has been on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 movies twice. It includes the hilarious "dance of the dinner rolls" scene.

"Chaplin was the first person to understand how deeply music could affect an audience's perception of a film," says BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, in an interview with Overturemagazine. "His scores are operatic in nature and scope. Each character has well-developed and easily identifiable themes or motives, and Chaplin interweaves these various motives into a beautiful musical tapestry, following the action of the characters in the film."

Marin Alsop, Music Director
Hailed as one of the world's leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002-2008, and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.

In 2005, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this prestigious award. In 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award, in 2008 she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2009 Musical America named her "Conductor of the Year." In November 2010, she was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Marin Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do estado de São Paulo (OSESP), or the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-13 season. Ms. Alsop was named to Guardian's Top 100 Women list in March 2011.

A regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Alsop appears frequently as a guest conductor with the most distinguished orchestras around the world. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award-winning cycles of Brahms, Barber and Dvorák.

Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her master's degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.

COMPLETE PROGRAM DETAILS
BSO Special Event: Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush
Friday, April 15, 2011 at 8 p.m.—Music Center at Strathmore
Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 8 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 3 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor

Chaplin: The Gold Rush