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JoAnn Falletta

Artistic Advisor

Hailed by The New York Times as "…one of the finest conductors of her generation," JoAnn Falletta currently holds the positions of Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Advisor to the Honolulu Symphony. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by the Washington Post as having "Toscanini's tight control over ensemble, Walter's affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski's gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein."

Highlights of Maestro Falletta's 2004/05 season with the Buffalo Philharmonic include the release of Burchfield Gallery, with music by Morton Gould and Jean Sibelius, on the Orchestra's Beau Fleuve label. This summer marked the Orchestra's acclaimed return to Carnegie Hall, a three-week residency at Buffalo's Artpark for its 30th Anniversary season, and the inauguration of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition. 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 three international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.

Following the success of the BPO's first two recordings on the Naxos label, the Orchestra's recording contract with Naxos has been extended to include two additional recordings: Music on the Prairie, featuring the music of Aaron Copland, to be recorded this season, and a disc of the music of Ottorino Respighi, to be recorded in 2006. Ms. Falletta's upcoming releases also include two recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring the music of Ken Fuchs (Naxos) and Behzad Ranjbaran (Delos).

Ms. Falletta has been invited to guest conduct many of the world's finest symphony orchestras. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Montreal, Saint Louis, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Utah, Phoenix, Alabama, London, Edmonton, Bretagne, Brooklyn, Denver, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Orquestra Filarmonica de la UNAM. As Artistic Advisor to the Honolulu Symphony, Ms. Falletta will serve as a frequent guest conductor there. Ms. Falletta's summer activities have taken her to numerous music festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, Eastern Music, Round Top, Cabrillo, OK Mozart International, Lanaudiere, Peter Britt and Breckenridge, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Ms. Falletta has won the coveted Stokowski Competition and the Seaver, Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, eight consecutive awards from ASCAP for creative programming, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League's prestigious John S. Edwards Award. As a leading authority on orchestral repertoire and a champion of contemporary music, she has performed nearly 300 works by American composers, including more than 60 world premieres. Maestro Falletta was recognized as Buffalo's most influential community leader after her first season leading the BPO. The following year, she was named Buffalo and Erie County's Artist of the Year for excellence in creating and supporting the arts. In June 2004, Ms. Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic were honored to receive an ASCAP/ASOL award for Adventurous Programming.

Her growing discography includes over 30 titles. Ms. Falletta's 2004 recording of Griffes Orchestral Music, on the Naxos label with the Buffalo Philharmonic, was selected as an Editor's Choice Recording by Gramophone. Other highly acclaimed recent recordings include The Music of Frederick Converse (Naxos American Classics), and Pictures at a Gallery by the Buffalo Philharmonic (Beau Fleuve), John Powell's Virginia Symphony and The American Cello, with the Virginia Symphony (both Albany), The American Clarinet, with the Czech National Symphony (Albany), and Schubert's Guitar (Koch), featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist and arranger.

A native of New York City, Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes College of Music and her master's and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School. For more information on Ms. Falletta, visit www.joannfalletta.com.