JoAnn Falletta - Biography

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JoAnn Falletta
Conductor
Full Length Biography

JoAnn Falletta is internationally celebrated as a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader. 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.” 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, Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.

Ken Fuchs, Michael Fine, Thomas Stacy and Falletta at the 2006 Grammy Awards (Photo: Chris von Rosenvinge)

Maestro Falletta is having an extraordinary recording year. With 18 Naxos discs released under her baton in the past ten years garnering nine Grammy nominations and two Grammy Awards, she is scheduled to see four additional recordings with four different orchestras released in 2012; an exceptional accomplishment in the current recording environment.

Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic is continuing its trajectory as one of the most recorded orchestras in America with the release of two new Naxos CDs in the 2012-13 season, Tyberg’s Symphony No. 2, and Gershwin’s Catfish Row, Rhapsody in Blue, Strike up the Band and Promenade, as well as the recording of its sixteenth Naxos disc, Gliere’s Symphony No. 3. Additional highlights include a performance at Carnegie Hall in May 2013, as part of the Spring for Music Festival and the Orchestra’s debut at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

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. Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic has become one of the leading orchestras for the Naxos label, earning two Grammy Awards and five Grammy nominations. Additional accomplishments include numerous ASCAP awards, including the top award for Adventurous Programming in 2011, an acclaimed Carnegie Hall performance in 2004, a highly successful tour of five Florida cities in 2010, the release of nine recordings on the orchestra’s own Beau Fleuve label, the founding of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition in partnership with WNED, numerous broadcasts of BPO concerts on NPR’s Performance Today and Symphony Cast, international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union, and a nation-wide broadcast on PBS television.

This season, the BPO will once again be featured on national broadcasts of NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union. The BPO is the only major orchestra to be featured twice on NPR’s From the Top. Other recent broadcasts include a national PBS televised special, Bernstein’s “Ode to Freedom” featuring Ms. Falletta as host, and a PBS special of the Four Seasons with Mark O’Connor and Catherine Cho.

The Virginia Symphony’s 2012-13 season will be highlighted by the Orchestra’s Stravinsky Festival with a performance by the VSO and the Richmond Ballet of the Rite of Spring on the exact date of the 100th anniversary of its world premiere, and a recording of Stravinsky’s Les Noces. In 2012, the VSO recorded its first CD for the Naxos label of two world premieres by composer Adolphus Hailstork. Under JoAnn Falletta’s direction, the VSO has risen to celebrated artistic heights. Recent achievements of the Virginia Symphony under her baton include fourteen recordings, a performance of Peter and the Wolf which was aired on National Public Radio, new audience development through residences at the College of William and Mary, Newport News and Virginia Beach, and critically acclaimed performances at the Kennedy Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Bernstein & Falletta, 1985 (Photo Louis Brunelli)

As Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, Falletta will make her Proms debut in Royal Albert Hall in August 2012, and will conduct many of the main season programs, select regional concerts and other events. In November 2013, she will lead the Orchestra in a US tour with flute soloist, Sir James Galway. She is the first American and the first woman to lead the Orchestra, which is considered to be one of the most important roles in the arts and cultural life of Northern Ireland. The orchestra has a unique, exclusive broadcast partnership with BBC, under which its concerts are recorded and streamed for internet broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, Radio Ulster and BBC TV. Under Falletta’s leadership, the Ulster Orchestra entered into an exciting new multi-year recording relationship with Naxos. The first disc, to be released in June 2012, includes five important works of Gustav Holst, including his beautiful Cotswolds Symphony, the Japanese Suite, the Walt Whitman Overture and the first uncut recordings of A Winter Idyll and Indra. This winter, JoAnn and the Ulster Orchestra recorded a CD of works by one of the greatest English composers of the 20th century, Ernest John Moeran. A disc of the music of Irish composer, Ina Boyle, a student of Vaughan-Williams, will be recorded later this season.

Ms. Falletta is invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. This year, she will make return engagements with the Krakow Philharmonic in Poland and the Goettingen Symphony in Germany, and debuts with the Czech Philharmonic and Rijeka Philharmonic in Croatia.

Highlights of her recent international guest conducting appearances include her South American debut with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile in Santiago Chile, and performances with the London Symphony, Korean Broadcast Symphony, Beijing Symphony, Haifa Symphony (Israel), Goettingen Symphony (Germany), 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, as well as a tour of Germany and Italy with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Detroit, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Rochester, Utah, Edmonton and Quebec, and the National Symphony. Ms. Falletta’s summer activities have taken her to numerous music festivals including the Brevard Festival in North Carolina, where she is in her second season as Principal Guest Conductor, Aspen, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, Grand Teton, Wolf Trap, Eastern Music, Cabrillo, OK Mozart International, Lanaudiere, Peter Britt, Breckenridge and Interlochen, among others. She is also Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra which was founded last year.

She 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 500 works by American composers, including more than 100 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has honored JoAnn Falletta with eleven ASCAP awards, recognizing her work as a conductor, communicator, recording artist, audience builder, champion of American composers and distinguished musical citizen. Ms. Falletta serves as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Perlman and Falletta, 2005 (Photo: John Lindberg)

Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. She was named Buffalo’s most influential community leader, and Buffalo and Erie County’s Artist of the Year, was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, and this spring was presented with the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, the University of Buffalo’s highest award. She received the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies Award for outstanding leadership in the Marcel Tyberg Musical Legacy project. During her tenure, the Orchestra’s budget has grown by 25 percent, subscriptions have reached record levels, the popular summer Artpark series has been reestablished, outreach activities have increased, and the BPO has regained its national prominence through recordings and broadcasts. The JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition has brought international acclaim and attention to the classical guitar, the Buffalo region and the BPO. Falletta is a member of the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame, and received the Human Relations Award from the Buffalo/Niagra Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. In Virginia, she earned a star on Norfolk’s Legends of Music Walk of Fame in recognition of her effect on the appreciation of classical music in Hampton Roads and Virginia, and was named Norfolk’s Downtowner of the Year for 2011.

Falletta is a strong advocate and mentor for young professional and student musicians. She has led seminars for women conductors for the League of American Orchestras, and has great success working with outstanding young musicians, guest conducting the orchestras of many of the top conservatories, including Curtis, Juilliard, Mannes and Manhattan School, and summer programs at Interlochen, Round Top and Brevard, among others.

Her growing discography, which currently includes almost 70 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia and Women’s Philharmonic, among others. Her recording with the Buffalo Philharmonic and soprano, Hila Plitmann of Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man received two Grammy Awards in 2009. Grammy nominated discs include her recordings with the Buffalo Philharmonic of Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3, Corigliano’s Red Violin, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, Strauss, Rosenkavalier, and Dohnányi, Variations on a Nursery Song. She received her first Grammy nomination in 2006 for Fuch’s “Eventide” Concerto for English Horn, Harp, Percussion and String Orchestra, with the London Symphony, from the CD An American Place (Naxos American Classics). Her 2011 recording of piano music of Avro Part was selected as a top disc of the year by the Washington Post. Her recording of Jack Gallagher’s music with the London Symphony received five stars from BBC Music Magazine and Audiophile Audition, was selected as a “Best of 2010” by Minnesota Public Radio, and listed among Fanfare Magazine’s “Want List” for 2011. Discs of the music of Respighi and Griffes, both on the Naxos label with the Buffalo Philharmonic, were selected as Editor’s Choice Recordings by Gramophone. Other recent Naxos discs include Joseph Suk’s Fairy Tales, world premiere recordings of Daron Hagen’s opera Shining Brow, based on the early years of Frank Lloyd Wright, and two “new” works by Franz Schubert, featuring the completion of Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony”, and a newly orchestrated transcription of Death and the Maiden, her first recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Naxos label, featuring the violin concertos on Dohnányi, the music of Paul Schoenfield with the Prague Philharmonia, works of Aaron Copland with the BPO, and Borrowed Treasures, Ms. Falletta’s third disc of chamber music for guitar, featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist.

Earlier discs of note include Burchfield Gallery, with music by Morton Gould and Jean Sibelius (BPO), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, a recording of the Orchestra’s June 2004 performance in New York City with music of Kodaly, Smetana and Zemlinsky, The American Cello, with the Virginia Symphony (Albany), Behzad Ranjbaran-Persian Trilogy, with the London Symphony (Delos), The Music of Frederick Converse (Naxos American Classics), Pictures at a Gallery by the Buffalo Philharmonic (Beau Fleuve), John Powell’s Virginia Symphony, with the Virginia Symphony (Albany), The American Clarinet, with the Czech National Symphony (Albany), Schubert’s Guitar (Koch), featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist and arranger, Impressions of French Music and Rhapsodie with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Peter and the Wolf and the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, with the Virginia Symphony and celebrities from National Public Radio, released under the NPR label.

Sarah Chang and Falletta, 2006 (Photo: John Lindberg)

Ms. Falletta made three recordings of works by women composers with the Women’s Philharmonic. Of special interest is her recording of works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger and Germaine Tailleferre, which received a “Best Classical Recording” award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and a “Most Creative Programming” award from Classic CD Magazine. Additional recordings feature music by Poulenc, Ravel, Moross, Shulamit Ran, Elinor Armer and John Luther Adams.

Ms. Falletta’s radio and television credits include numerous appearances on NPR’s Performance Today, Fresh Air, From the Top, WQXR, WNCN, CBS Sunday Morning, the Charlie Rose Show, the MacNeil Lehrer News Hour, BBC Radio, and several nationally televised performances on PBS including Live from Lincoln Center-Juilliard at 80, Seasons of Life with Mark O’Connor and the BPO, and a special PBS TV documentary about music with Penn & Teller. In 2008-09, she led the BPO in its second appearance on NPR’s From the Top, and hosted a national PBS televised special, Bernstein’s “Ode to Freedom”. As a writer, Ms. Falletta has contributed articles to Symphony Magazine, the New York Concert Review, the Virginian Pilot, Portfolio Magazine and Traffic East Magazine. Ms. Falletta’s first poetry book, Love Letters to Music, was published in the fall of 2004. Pierrot Lunaire, a poem from this collection, is the text setting for a new work by composer Paul English, premiered in 2012.

In addition to her current posts with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the Ulster Orchestra, the Brevard Music Center and the Hawaii Symphony, Ms. Falletta has held the positions of artistic advisor to the Honolulu Symphony, music director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Queens Philharmonic and the Women’s Philharmonic.

Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York, her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School, and has been awarded twelve honorary doctorates.

JoAnn Falletta
Conductor
Condensed Biography

JoAnn Falletta is internationally celebrated as a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader. 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.” 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, Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.

Galway & Falletta, 2004

Ms. Falletta is invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. This year, she will make return engagements with the Krakow Philharmonic in Poland and the Goettingen Symphony in Germany, and debuts with the Czech Philharmonic and Croatia National Philharmonic.

Highlights of her recent international guest conducting appearances include her South American debut with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile in Santiago Chile, and performances with the London Symphony, Korean Broadcast Symphony, Beijing Symphony, the Haifa Symphony (Israel), Goettingen Symphony (Germany), 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, as well as a tour of Germany and Italy with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Detroit, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Rochester, Utah, Edmonton, Quebec and the National Symphony. Ms. Falletta’s summer activities have taken her to numerous music festivals including the Brevard Festival in North Carolina, where she is in her second season as Principal Guest Conductor, Aspen, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, Grand Teton, Wolf Trap, Eastern Music, Cabrillo, OK Mozart International, Lanaudiere, Peter Britt, Breckenridge, Brevard and Interlochen, among others. She is also Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra which was founded last year.

She is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, 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 100 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, she has been honored with eleven ASCAP awards. Ms. Falletta serves as a Member of the National Council on the Arts.

Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic is continuing its trajectory as one of the most recorded orchestras in America with the release of two new Naxos CDs in the 2012-13 season, Tyberg’s Symphony No. 2 and Gershwin’s Catfish Row, Rhapsody in Blue, Strike up the Band and Promenade, and the recording of its 16th Naxos disc, Gliere’s Symphony No 3. Performance highlights include a concert at Carnegie Hall in May 2013, as part of the Spring for Music Festival, and the Orchestra’s debut at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Gil Shaham and Falletta, 2012 (Photo: John Lindberg)

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. Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic has become one of the leading orchestras for the Naxos label, earning two Grammy Awards and five Grammy nominations. This season, the BPO will once again be featured on national broadcasts of NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.

The Virginia Symphony’s 2012-13 season will be highlighted by a Stravinsky Festival with a performance by the VSO and the Richmond Ballet of The Rite of Spring on the exact date of the 100th anniversary of its world premier, and a recording of Stravinsky’s Les Noces. In 2012, the Orchestra made their first CD for the Naxos label with a collection of five pieces, including two world premieres, by composer Adolphus Hailstork.

As Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra Falletta will make her Proms debut in Royal Albert Hall in August 2012, and will conduct many of the main season programs, select regional concerts and other events. In November 2013, she will lead the Orchestra in a US tour with flute soloist, Sir James Galway. She is the first American and the first woman to lead the Orchestra. The orchestra has a unique exclusive broadcast partnership with BBC, under which its concerts are recorded and streamed for internet broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, Radio Ulster and BBC TV. Under Falletta’s leadership, the Ulster Orchestra entered into an exciting new multi-year recording relationship with Naxos. The first disc, to be released in June 2012, includes works of Gustav Holst, with upcoming discs to feature works of Moeran and Boyle.

Maestro Falletta is having an extraordinary recording year. With 18 Naxos discs released under her baton in the past ten years garnering nine Grammy nominations and two Grammy Awards, she is scheduled to see four additional recordings with four different orchestras released in 2012; an exceptional accomplishment in the current recording environment. These include Naxos’ thirteenth disc featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Gershwin), the first of three discs with the Ulster Orchestra (Gustav Holst), the 1st Naxos recording with the Virginia Symphony (Adolphus Hailstork), and a world premiere recording with the London Symphony (Kenneth Fuchs). In the past ten years, her recordings for Naxos have garnered nine Grammy nominations, including two Grammy awards in 2009 for John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man with the BPO. Maestro Falletta’s growing discography, which currently includes almost 70 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia and Women’s Philharmonic, among others.

Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York, her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School, and has been awarded twelve honorary doctorates.

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