In 2002, as Maestro Marin Alsop’s career was taking off 18 years after starting her own orchestra, Concordia Chamber Orchestra, she remained one of only a handful of women conductors.  “Where are the other women conductors?” Marin wondered. With support from Japanese textile industrialist Tomio Taki, she established the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship, designed to help talented women advance their conducting careers.

Renamed the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2019, the award offers cash prizes and invaluable opportunities to work with Alsop and other conductors on and off the podium. Over its 20 years of existence, the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship has assisted 30 female

conductors,19 of whom hold Music Director or Principal Conductor posts with orchestras and in opera houses around the world, and all of whom are working to maintain the highest artistic standards while ensuring a more equitable future for classical music.

The Mission of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship is to mentor, support, and promote women conductors as they advance in their professional careers.