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. In 2009, for the first time in its 74-year history, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra won not one, but two prestigious Grammy awards. The BPO won Grammys for the Best Classical Performance and Best Classical Composition for its John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan; Three Hallucinations CD that was released in 2008. The orchestra was also nominated for a third Grammy in the Best Engineered Album, Classical category for its Respighi: Church Windows recording.
 

Falletta and Michael Ludwig, BPO Concertmaster   (Photo: John Lindberg)

By being innovative and flexible in its approach to changing economic conditions, and stressing artistic excellence, the BPO is continuing to build its reputation as one of the nation’s and world’s great symphony orchestras. Under Falletta’s tenure, subscription numbers have steadily increased, both in numbers of tickets sold and overall ticket revenues, educational audiences have doubled, the Orchestra completed a successful $34 million endowment campaign, and the popular summer Artpark series has been reestablished. In March 2010, the Orchestra will go on tour for the first time in many years with concerts in five cities in Florida. In 2004, the Orchestra made its critically acclaimed return to Carnegie Hall. The BPO has been featured on national PBS TV broadcasts of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, on NPR’s From the Top (as only the second professional orchestra to be included in the broadcast) and is regularly heard on NPR/APR and European Union Broadcasts. In 2004, the BPO received the ASCAP/ASOL award for Adventurous Programming.
 
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 BPO is one of the leading orchestras for the Naxos label, with five CDs released since JoAnn began with the orchestra, and another five CDs in the works as of February 2009. The Orchestra has simultaneously established its own recording label, releasing 7 CDs with marketing partnerships with the Albright Knox and Burchfield Penney Museums and Darwin Martin House in Buffalo.
 
Both on and off the podium, Falletta is a dedicated advocate for the BPO and the Buffalo region. She was named by the Buffalo News as Buffalo’s most influential community leader and the Buffalo and Erie County’s Artist of the Year. The JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto and Composition Competitions have brought international acclaim and attention to the classical guitar, the Buffalo region, and the BPO. Falletta has received honorary doctorates from Canisius College, D’Youville College and Niagara University, the Erie County Historical Society’s Red Jacket for outstanding community service, the Theodore Roosevelt award, the Human Relations Award from the

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Buffalo/Niagara Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and has been inducted into the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame.