“Can’t” is a four letter word

I recently saw my first film in a theatre since the pandemic turned our culture upside down and inside out. It was one of the most inspiring films I have seen, especially fitting for these tumultuous times. The Conductor, a documentary by filmmaker Bernadette Wegenstein, shines the spotlight on Maestra Marin Alsop, the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria, and Britain. It’s a story about how to turn every struggle into an opportunity. 

We learn that nine year old Marin set her sights on becoming a conductor when she went to one of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s concerts with her dad. Afterwards, to acknowledge this pivotal moment, he gifted her a box of conducting batons. She still treasures the box as a tribute to perseverance—the power to realize one’s talents and overcome discrimination against all odds. 

At every point along her journey, Alsop was told that girls are not welcome as conductors of classical music, a profession that has long been dominated by white European men. “I’ve never been good with a lot of rules,” she says. She recognizes the injustice inflicted when someone is told they are NOT something, insisting that can’t is the worst four letter word. 

“Everyone said no, and here I am doing it.”

I love this. Alsop is not just a role model for aspiring women, but an incredible example of the grounded, non-elitist approach to art I like to call “art for daily life.” To nurture the next generation of musicians in her own community, she founded OrchKids, a K-12 music program in the Baltimore City schools that now serves over 1,900 children.

“I truly believe that every child is born a genius,” she writes, “filled with endless possibility.”

Hats off to Marin Alsop, a mentor for anyone with the courage, passion, and perseverance to find their own voice and pave new roads. 

Yours in color,

Luanne