Jonathon Heyward
(Laura Thiesbrummel/Laura Thiesbrummel)
Sergio A. Mims forwards:
Jonathon
Heyward, the 29-year-old classical music phenom whose skill on the
conductor’s podium has generated international headlines, was named
Thursday as the next music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
When
Heyward begins his five-year contract in the fall of 2023, he will be
the only Black American conductor leading a major U.S. symphony
orchestra and just the second in history. He will be the BSO’s 13th
music director.
“I
think we are poised for great things at this moment,” said Brian
Prechtl, chairman of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee
and a member of the search committee seeking a successor for former
music director Marin Alsop. “The hiring of Jonathon Heyward is going to
be a marquee moment for The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.”
Heyward’s
appointment occurred at warp speed in classical music terms, where the
search for a new music director frequently can take two or three years.
Initially, symphony officials said that a successor to Alsop, the first
woman to helm a major American symphony, might not be appointed until
the spring of 2024.
