Maestro Falletta has served as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony since 1991. Under her direction, the VSO, which annually performs more than 140 Classical, Pops, Family, Education and Outreach concerts, has risen to celebrated artistic heights and become recognized as one of the nation’s leading regional symphony orchestras. Recent achievements of the Virginia Symphony under the baton of Music Director JoAnn Falletta include eleven compact disc recordings for national release, a performance of Peter and the Wolf which was aired on National Public Radio, and groundbreaking performances at the Kennedy Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In August, 2000, the Virginia Symphony was accepted into the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, officially entering the “major league” of symphony orchestras, and joining the ranks of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few of the over 50 great ensembles in this organization.
 
As part of the VSO’s and Falletta’s commitment to reach out to new audiences, the Orchestra inaugurated a series of concerts in two new venues last season: the Sandler Center in Virginia Beach and the Center for Cultural Arts in Suffolk. These supplement the VSO’s existing series at Chrysler Hall, Ferguson Center for the Arts, Regent University and St. Bede in Williamsburg. Guest artists for the season include pianists Awadagin Pratt and Susan Starr, violinists Michael Ludwig, Jennifer Koh, Elmar Oliveira and Vahn Armstrong, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, among others. Other highlights of the season include performances of Paul Schoenfield’s “Four Parables”, with pianist Andrew Russo, and Kenneth Fuchs’ “Canticle to the Sun”, with French horn player David Wick, both of which are featured on recent recordings made by Maestro Falletta. Upcoming recordings include a new holiday disc. Last season, the orchestra released the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Norman Krieger and a disc featuring violin soloist Michael Ludwig performing Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and Massenet’s Meditation.
 
In 2007, Ms. Falletta was inducted into Norfolk’s Legends of Music Walk of Fame in recognition of her effect on the appreciation of classical music in Hampton Roads and Virginia. Her contributions to the arts in the State were previously recognized with the National Education Association Award and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.