Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman

When Alisa Weilerstein stepped on stage to play Joan Tower's new cello concerto during a Colorado thunderstorm, it was a case of three elemental powers conspiring to create.

Five years on from her historic appointment as the first woman to head a major American orchestra, Marin Alsop took to the stage of Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley Friday night with a swagger, leading the impressive Baltimore Symphony, the orchestra with whom she has made her mark as one of the world’s leading conductors.