Marin Alsop and Sandi Toksvig in Conversation

Thu 1 April 2021

online

Join us for an in conversation event with Newnham's Honorary Fellows, conductor Marin Alsop and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig.
Marin and Sandi will discuss music, comedy and their careers in these historically male dominated fields. Join us for an evening with two of Newnham’s favourite rebellious and witty women.

Sandi Toksvig OBE, began her comedy career at Girton College, Cambridge where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman Footlights show. Sandi is well known to UK audiences as a broadcaster, in recent years she took over from Stephen Fry as host of BBC2’s hugely popular quiz show QI. From 2017 to 2020 Sandi co-hosted The Great British Bake Off with Noel Fielding, in its move to Channel 4. For a decade Sandi was a familiar voice to BBC Radio 4 listeners as the chair of The News Quiz which led to her induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Much of Sandi’s time is devoted to writing and in 2019 she became president of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. Sandi has written more than twenty fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults. Her latest book, a memoir, entitled Between the Stops published in October 2019 and follows her novel The End of the Sky published in 2017.

Marin Alsop is one of the foremost conductors of our time. She is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, deep commitment to education, and advocacy for music’s importance in the world. The first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain, she is, as the New York Times put it, not only “a formidable musician and a powerful communicator” but also “a conductor with a vision.”

The 2019-20 season marked Marin’s first as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, which she leads at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, and on recordings, broadcasts and tours. Marin has longstanding relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras, and regularly guest conducts such major international ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, La Scala Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Marin has also been honoured with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, and made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

Cost: Free