JOANN FALLETTA
JoAnn Falletta is known worldwide as one of the finest conductors of her generation, and is hailed as “one of the brightest stars of symphonic music”. Currently the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, Ms. Falletta first fell in love with music when she was 7 and began studying classical guitar. Since then, she has appeared as guitarist, mandolinist and lutenist with such premiere ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, American Ballet Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Savannah Symphony, Denver Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Opera Company, School of American Ballet, New Repertory Ensemble, Women’s Philharmonic and the Juilliard Orchestra. This season, for the first time in her tenure, Maestro Falletta will appear as guest soloist with the Virginia Symphony, performing Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D Major.
A champion of music of our time, having led her orchestras in over 400 works by American composers, including more than 80 world premieres, Ms. Falletta is equally dedicated to the expansion of the repertoire for guitar. The JoAnn Falletta International Composers’ Competition, held in conjunction with the Concerto Competition, was conceived with the goal of expanding the classical music repertoire and exposing audiences worldwide to new and important works for the guitar. Ms. Falletta also enjoys composing original transcriptions and arrangements for guitar. Several of these are published by E.C. Schirmer.
A prolific recording artist, Ms. Falletta has almost 40 orchestral recordings in her discography, and ten new discs either being released or recorded this season with the BPO, the VSO, the London Symphony, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonia. She has also received wide critical acclaim for her guitar chamber music recordings. This summer, the Virginia Arts Festival released Borrowed Treasures, Ms. Falletta’s third disc of chamber music for guitar, featuring Ms. Falletta as guitarist and her original transcriptions for guitar, flute and clarinet. Minnesota Public Radio called Ms. Falletta’s arrangements “a welcome addition to the repertoire”. Schubert’s Guitar, released on the Koch label, which features Ms. Falletta’s original transcriptions of Schubert’s works for guitar, clarinet, flute and soprano, was hailed by Fanfare Magazine for its “power and intensity”, praising JoAnn Falletta as “a virtuoso on the guitar as well as a world-class orchestral conductor”. Ms. Falletta’s first guitar chamber recording project for Koch, The Viennese Guitar, with works by Schubert, Kreutzer and Beethoven, similarly received critical acclaim for the “marvelous performances” and “superlative chamber playing” by Ms. Falletta and her colleagues, Robert Alemany, clarinet, Alexa Still, flute, Paul Neubauer, viola and Ronald Thomas, cello.
A native of New York City, Ms. Falletta studied classical guitar at the Mannes College of Music and served on the faculty of the American Institute of Guitar before earning her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School in conducting. For more information on Ms. Falletta, visit www.joannfalletta.com.