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. With subscription numbers steadily increasing,
she has led the orchestra in numerous concerts broadcast on NPRs
Performance Today and
SymphonyCast, and by the European Broadcasting
Union, as well as a nation-wide broadcast on PBS television. In 2004,
the BPO received the ASCAP/ASOL award for Adventurous Programming.

Falletta and Michael Ludwig, BPO Concertmaster
(Photo: John Lindberg) |
Under her leadership, the BPO has made an unprecedented number of highly
acclaimed recordings, and has entered into a multi-disc contract with
Naxos, representing the first commercial recording contract the
orchestra has had with an international label in over 20 years. The
orchestras most recent release on the Naxos label is a collection
devoted to the works of Aaron Copland, inspired by the spacious landscape
of the American prairie, including
The Red Pony Suite, Rodeo, Prairie
Journal, and
Letter from Home. The disc honors the Buffalo historic landmark
Darwin D. Martin House, one of architect Frank Lloyd Wrights
premier prairie houses. From the brash Circus Music to
the gentle Grandfathers Story (both from
The Red
Pony), the disc presents a dream of America as expressed by
Copland and by the prairie-style architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. It
can make us think deeply, as both theses artists wanted us to, about our
place in the world, says the Buffalo News, which called the disc
sparkl[ing] with life and wit. The BPOs 2004 recording
of
Griffes Orchestral Music, on the Naxos label with the Buffalo
Philharmonic, was selected as an Editors Choice Recording by
Gramophone. The 2004/05 season saw the release of
Burchfield Gallery,
with music by Morton Gould and Jean Sibelius (BPO);
Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, a recording of the Orchestras June
2004 performance in New York City, with music of Kodaly, Smetana and
Zemlinsky. Other recent recordings include
The Music of Frederick
Converse (Naxos American Classics); and
Pictures at a Gallery by the
Buffalo Philharmonic (Beau Fleuve).
Both on and off the podium, Falletta is a dedicated advocate for the BPO
and the Buffalo region. She was named Buffalos most influential
community leader, and Buffalo and Erie Countys Artist of the Year.
During her tenure the popular summer Artpark series has been
reestablished, attendance and 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. In 2006, Falletta was inducted into the Western New
York Womens Hall of Fame; received the Human Relations Award from
the Buffalo/Niagra Chapter of the American Jewish Committee; and guest
conducted the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Buffalos Japanese
sister city, leading a delegation of Buffalo representatives who served
as goodwill ambassadors for tourism, education, economic development
and
the arts.