The Short End of the Stick

Nov 30 2007
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JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta

Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. 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 guest conducting appearances include her debuts with the Orchestra National de Belgique, the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, the Dallas Symphony, the Orchestre National De Lyon, the Northwest German Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic, and return engagements with the Seattle, Utah, San Antonio, Louisville and Colorado Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America. Highlights of her recent North American guest conducting appearances include the orchestras of Philadelphia, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, 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. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 400 works by American composers, including more than 80 world premieres, and has received nine awards from ASCAP for creative programming, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award.

Maestro Falletta’s 2007/08 season with the Buffalo Philharmonic will be a prolific recording period, with the Orchestra recording four CDs and releasing two new discs on the Naxos label, including a world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s [i]Mr. Tambourine Man[/i] and the international release of a disc of the works of Ottorino Respighi. Continuing to raise the BPO’s national and international prominence, Ms. Falletta will once again lead the orchestra in a number of concerts to be broadcast nationally on NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union. This season will see the release of two new recordings by the Virginia Symphony: the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Norman Krieger, and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and Massenet’s Meditation with violinist Michael Ludwig.

Maestro Falletta’s growing discography, which includes over 40 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Philadelphia Philharmonia and the Women’s Philharmonic, among others. In addition to her upcoming releases with the BPO and the VSO, Ms. Falletta’s current projects include her first recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Naxos label, featuring the violin concertos of Dohnanyi. Other upcoming releases for this season include a world premiere recording of the orchestral music of Kenneth Fuchs with the London Symphony to be released on the Naxos label, and a recording of the music of Paul Schoenfield with the Prague Philharmonia. This summer, the Virginia Arts Festival released [i]Borrowed Treasures[/i], Ms. Falletta’s third disc of chamber music for guitar, featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist.

Together with English Horn soloist Thomas Stacy and the London Symphony Orchestra, Falletta received a 2006 Grammy nomination for Eventide (Concerto for English Horn, Percussion, Harp, Celesta and String Orchestra) by Kenneth Fuchs, from the CD An American Place (Naxos American Classics).

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.

For more information on Ms. Falletta, visit her website at www.joannfalletta.com.

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The programming of a season is one of the most complicated but ultimately one of the most satisfying challenges of working as a music director. Many factors go into the selection of repertoire:

1. Pieces that are especially interesting to the players, often including works they have not done before. I receive a large number of suggestions directly from the musicians, and I think it is important to feature works that orchestra members particularly look forward to playing. (This has ranged from Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra to Mahler 7th Symphony to Respighi Church Windows and many, many others.)

2. Pieces that have special appeal for the audience. While this usually means works that are beloved standards (Beethoven Symphony No. 9, for instance), it often happens that particular audiences form an attachment to composers and works that are not in the list of top favorites. (John Corigliano is beloved in Buffalo because of recordings we have made of his works and because of his charisma during his visits to the city; Paul Hindemith is very fondly remembered from his days as a faculty member there by some of our older patrons.)

3. Inclusion of music of our time in the season. It is a privilege to bring new music to the public. If the music director chooses works to which he feels passionately committed, and includes the orchestra in that passion, together they can communicate the excitement of contemporary music to the listeners.

4. Compositions of local composers. I feel that it is absolutely critical to perform the works of living American composers, and find it especially relevant to feature works of composers from the region. We have had great success with stunning works by local composers Adolphus Hailstork and James Hosay in Virginia; in Buffalo audiences have really enjoyed hearing works by Persis Vehar, and plans are underway for inclusion of several other Buffalo composers

5. Pieces that foster orchestral development. Pieces in diverse styles and works which present new challenges are very important in terms of developing strength, flexibility, nuance and expanded vocabulary for the orchestra. In Virginia and Buffalo we have undertaken challenges with pieces by Christopher Rouse, Aaron Kernis and Zhou Long (for instance) that seemed absolutely daunting when we started rehearsals, and incredibly satisfying when we performed them with excellence and commitment. We have programmed a number of Haydn symphonies and Stravinsky neo-classical works in Buffalo to develop elegance and muscular lightness in an orchestra that excels at 19th century romantic repertoire.

Repertoire can also be dictated by soloists’ desires and interests. Midori really wanted to perform the John Adams Violin Concerto with Buffalo for the first time, and we were honored to put that on the season. Richard Goode expressed a special desire to play Bartok Third Piano Concerto with us in Virginia, and it was a thrilling week for us. I always try to feature repertoire for soloists and for guest conductors that hold special interest for them, repertoire that they love and in which they can shine, pieces in which they will bring something tremendously personal to the orchestra.

Putting the various pieces into a cohesive program can be very challenging. I think that pieces on a program should be “in conversation” with each other, that they should make sense together, that each should enhance and inform the others. It is a bit like putting together a delicious and stimulating meal- which should always hold a surprise or two! We have experimented with “thematic seasons” with success – for instance, when the Virginia Symphony celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers at Jamestown, we incorporated into the entire season composers who had left their native lands to “re-settle” in America (Bartok, Rachmaninoff, Dohnanyi, etc.) This season we are celebrating “The Spirit of Romanticism” – not so much romantic music, as music that explores 19th century philosophies such as nationalism, the rise of the virtuoso, the composer as performer, fairy tales and legends, the importance of the individual, and revolution.

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JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta

Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. 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 guest conducting appearances include her debuts with the Orchestra National de Belgique, the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, the Dallas Symphony, the Orchestre National De Lyon, the Northwest German Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic, and return engagements with the Seattle, Utah, San Antonio, Louisville and Colorado Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America. Highlights of her recent North American guest conducting appearances include the orchestras of Philadelphia, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, 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. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 400 works by American composers, including more than 80 world premieres, and has received nine awards from ASCAP for creative programming, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award.

Maestro Falletta’s 2007/08 season with the Buffalo Philharmonic will be a prolific recording period, with the Orchestra recording four CDs and releasing two new discs on the Naxos label, including a world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s [i]Mr. Tambourine Man[/i] and the international release of a disc of the works of Ottorino Respighi. Continuing to raise the BPO’s national and international prominence, Ms. Falletta will once again lead the orchestra in a number of concerts to be broadcast nationally on NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union. This season will see the release of two new recordings by the Virginia Symphony: the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Norman Krieger, and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and Massenet’s Meditation with violinist Michael Ludwig.

Maestro Falletta’s growing discography, which includes over 40 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Philadelphia Philharmonia and the Women’s Philharmonic, among others. In addition to her upcoming releases with the BPO and the VSO, Ms. Falletta’s current projects include her first recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Naxos label, featuring the violin concertos of Dohnanyi. Other upcoming releases for this season include a world premiere recording of the orchestral music of Kenneth Fuchs with the London Symphony to be released on the Naxos label, and a recording of the music of Paul Schoenfield with the Prague Philharmonia. This summer, the Virginia Arts Festival released [i]Borrowed Treasures[/i], Ms. Falletta’s third disc of chamber music for guitar, featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist.

Together with English Horn soloist Thomas Stacy and the London Symphony Orchestra, Falletta received a 2006 Grammy nomination for Eventide (Concerto for English Horn, Percussion, Harp, Celesta and String Orchestra) by Kenneth Fuchs, from the CD An American Place (Naxos American Classics).

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.

For more information on Ms. Falletta, visit her website at www.joannfalletta.com.

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