Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. 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.” Both on and off the podium, she is a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader. 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 international guest conducting appearances include the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Lithuania, Orquestra de Extremadura (Spain), Warsaw National Philharmonic, Kraków Philharmonic, Orchestra National de Belgique, Seoul Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National De Lyon, Northwest German Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony. This past May, she led the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Spring Gala. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, New Jersey, Seattle, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St Louis, Houston, Rochester, Utah, Edmonton, Quebec 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. Ms Falletta serves as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Since stepping up to the podium as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 1999, Maestro Falletta has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to a new level of national and international prominence, including two Grammy awards in 2009 for Best Classical Performance and Best Classical Composition for its John Corigliano: Mr Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan; Three Hallucinations CD [Naxos 8.559331]. The orchestra was also nominated for a third Grammy in the Best Engineered Album, Classical category for its Respighi: Church Windows recording [Naxos 8.557711]. Highlights for the 2009–10 season include the BPO’s five city concert tour throughout Florida and broadcasts 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, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia and the Women’s Philharmonic, among others. In addition to the two Grammy Awards and three Grammy Nominations for 2009, Ms Falletta received a 2006 Grammy nomination together with English Horn soloist Thomas Stacy and the London Symphony Orchestra for “Eventide” Concerto for English Horn, Harp, Percussion, and String Orchestra, by Kenneth Fuchs, from the CD An American Place (Naxos American Classics 8.559224). Her 2007 recording of the music of Respighi and her 2003 recording of Griffes Orchestral Music, both on the Naxos label [8.559164] with the Buffalo Philharmonic, were selected as Editor’s Choice Recordings by Gramophone. Upcoming recordings include discs of the music of Richard Strauss, Dohnányi, John Corigliano, Suk, Respighi, Gershwin and Ellington. 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 Austrian composer and Holocaust victim. The first release in this series will be Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3.
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, and in addition has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates.
For more information on please visit www.joannfalletta.com.
See JoAnn Falletta’s Naxos interview.
Conductor JoAnn Falletta speaks with John Clare.
