This looks a tall order, especially since Will Alsop, the architect responsible for the design, likened the planned outcome to the view of a walled Tuscan hill town.

ECONOMIST: One town's ambitious adventure into municipal capitalism

In 2007, Marin Alsop will become music director of the Baltimore Symphony, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.

NPR: An Updated 'Messiah' from Marin Alsop

That day will apparently come in 2006 when Alsop is slated to take over as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

NPR: Woman to Lead Baltimore Symphony

"I don't think there is any other composer who set the English language better to music, " says tenor Nicholas Phan, who has recorded two albums of Britten, and will perform in the "War Requiem" next November with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony.

WSJ: The Sounds of Sacrifice | Benjamin Britten | War Requiem | Masterpiece by Stuart Isacoff