Profile: JOANN FALLETTA
AUG 2 8:00 pm
Conductor, Persian Trilogy
Commemorating the Millennium of the Shahnamah,
a Masterpiece of Classical Persian Poetry and Cosmopolitanism
Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. Acclaimed by The New York Times as “one of the finest conductors of her generation”, she serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Falletta has been invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. Highlights of her recent and upcoming guest conducting appearances include her debuts with the Seoul Philharmonic, the Orchestra National de Belgique, the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, the Dallas Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Orchestre National De Lyon, the Northwest German Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony, and return engagements with the Honolulu, Seattle, Chattanooga, Utah, San Antonio, Louisville and Colorado Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), the Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), the Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America. Highlights of her recent North American guest conducting appearances include the orchestras of Philadelphia, Montreal, San Francisco, Toronto, Edmonton, Quebec, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and St. Louis, and the National Symphony.
Ms. Falletta is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards, including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award for exceptionally gifted American conductors, the coveted Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 400 works by American composers, including more than 80 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored JoAnn Falletta with her 10th ASCAP award in 2008.
Maestro Falletta will celebrate her 10th season with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 2008 – 09. The season will be highlighted by the release of four new discs on the Naxos label, and the recording of two additional Naxos CDs, bringing the total number of Naxos discs by the BPO to ten under her leadership. Recordings to be released include a world premiere of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, based on the poems of Bob Dylan and discs of the music of Franz Schubert and Richard Strauss. Falletta, who has established a reputation for conducting artistically important, but seldom-heard works, is embarking on a multi-year recording project of the lost works of Marcel Tyberg, the brilliant Italian composer and Holocaust victim. The first release in this series will be Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3. Works to be recorded this season include discs of the music of Dohnanyi and John Corigliano’s Red Violin, featuring violinist Michael Ludwig. In addition, both the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony will release Holiday CDs. Continuing to raise the BPO’s national and international prominence, Ms. Falletta will once again lead the orchestra in a number of concerts to be broadcast nationally on NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.
Maestro Falletta’s growing discography, which currently includes over 50 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Philadelphia Philharmonia and the Women’s Philharmonic, among others. Together with English Horn soloist Thomas Stacy and the London Symphony Orchestra, Falletta received a 2006 Grammy nomination for “Eventide” Concerto for English Horn, Harp, Percussion, and String Orchestra, by Kenneth Fuchs, from the CD An American Place (Naxos American Classics). Her 2007 recording of the music of Respighi and her 2003 recording of Griffes Orchestral Music, both on the Naxos label with the Buffalo Philharmonic, were selected as an Editor’s Choice Recordings by Gramophone.
Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School.