The NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Concert of Peace will be led by world-famous conductor, Marin Alsop, on May 29.
Alsop currently resides in Vienna but has traveled all over the world for her work, making history along the way.
"I've had the great privilege, oddly, of being the first woman to conduct in many situations," Alsop said. "I was the first women to head a full-time U.S. Major orchestra. Also the largest orchestra in Sao Paulo, in South America, in Austria, in the U.K. So — I mean, I just happened on these things."
Alsop studied at Yale and Julliard before starting her own orchestra in New York City, which existed for 18 years.
"I also had a swing band with my friends called String Fever. So I was quite entrepreneurial to get things started," she said.
Alsop's talent and musical history was also highlighted in The Conductor, a documentary released in 2021. She said that documentary is actually what brought her and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner together for a chance encounter in an airport lounge.
"He was a big fan and he just watched — a documentary on me, watched it a couple of times," she said. "We just connected and he said he would be coming to some of my concerts. And so we just stayed in touch a bit."
Alsop said that chance meeting is what eventually led to her conducting the Concert of Peace here in Dayton.
"It sounded like an incredibly important and moving experience and event," she said. "And he asked if I could possibly be free to conduct and I'm thrilled to be able to come out to Dayton to do this."
She said she also agreed to be a part of the Concert for Peace performance to highlight the importance of celebrating America’s history as a peacemaker in the Dayton Peace Accords.
"This felt like a reminder of those times even though it was 30 years ago," she said. "But the United States, I think, still has the possibility to continue to play an important role for people.”
The Sarajevo and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestras will perform multiple pieces, carrying the theme of peace.
"I am going to do one piece with the Sarajevo Orchestra and one with the Dayton Orchestra and then we're going to combine forces to do Beethoven fifth symphony," Alsop said.
The Concert of Peace was added to the NATO conference schedule to honor the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Bosnian war in 1995.
"This will be the Sarajevo Philharmonic's only performance in the United States for this tour," said congressman Mike Turner in an early press conference on the event. "They're coming specifically for NATO and for the Concert for Peace and for our nation's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords."
The performance begins with Leonard Bernstein’s Overture from Candide, which Alsop says offers a lively comment on the human condition.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis will follow Bernstein's piece.
"The Bernstein is very lively to open and the Vaughn Williams is, I think, very, very emotional, very beautiful," she said. "It's for strings only."
The show will close with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor which Alsop said is a comment on how music can bring people together.
“Playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which is all about triumph over adversity – not only represents what NATO is about and what this peace accord was about, but also represents hope for the future,” she said.
This will be Alsop’s first visit to Dayton and first time conducting with both orchestras. She said she thinks the world needs more events like these that champion the arts in this political climate.
"I think it's very important to champion creativity and imagination," she said. "Because I think these are the qualities that we need to move forward toward a 21st century that's innovative, positive, productive, healthy. We need so much ingenuity and creativity and that's what music and art brings."
