Maestro JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta is a Grammy Award-winning artist who has been compared to some of the greatest conductors of the 20th century—legends like Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, and (one of her former teachers at Juilliard) Leonard Bernstein. Maestro Falletta is Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and also the Connie and Marc Jacobson Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, and Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra as well as the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. She has guest-conducted all over North America and around the world, including many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America.
With a discography of nearly 120 titles, Falletta is a leading recording artist for Naxos. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has served by presidential appointment as a member of the National Council on the Arts during the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations, and has received many prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. In 2019, Performance Today named her Classical Woman of the Year, calling her a “tireless champion” and lauding her “unique combination of artistic authority and compassion, compelling musicianship and humanity.” She is a fierce advocate for young conductors, and for the power of music for all people. JoAnn and I spoke on October 1st at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s administrative home in Clement House, a stunning mansion on Delaware Avenue near downtown Buffalo.
The YouTube version features beautiful footage shot by Terry Fisher, Harry Jones and John Parascak of Full Circle Studios, and edited by me.
Image by Full Circle Studios
Special thanks to Maestro Falletta’s colleagues at the BPO who facilitated many aspects of this episode, especially Patrick O’Herron and Diana Martinusek. JoAnn Falletta is represented by Genevieve Spielberg, Inc. Thanks also to Tom Dudzick, who permitted me to use an excerpt from the MIDI version of “I Want My Guy Back for Christmas” from his musical Christmas Over the Tavern.
Soundtrack Samples
All orchestral recordings in this episode feature Maestro Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and all are available for purchase on the BPO website. Chamber music recordings* by Debra Wendalls Cross (flute), Robert Alemany (clarinet), and JoAnn Falletta (guitar) come from the 2007 album Borrowed Treasures, produced by the Virginia Arts Festival.
02:32 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). 2nd movement, Largo
09:05 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Clarinet Concerto. 1st movement, Allegro
11:45 Léo WEINER Hungarian Folkdance Suite. 1st movement, Allegro risoluto e ben marcato
19:08 Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3. 1st movement, Allegro ma non tanto (Philippe Bianconi, piano)
21:14 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). 3rd movement, Scherzo molto vivace
22:43 George GERSHWIN Three Preludes. No. 1, Allegro ben ritmato e deciso (trans. James Cohn / JoAnn Falletta)*
23:05 Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 2. 1st movement, Allegro non troppo
29:23 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). 1st movement, Adagio—Molto allegro
30:51 Piotr Ilych TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto. 1st movement, Allegro moderato (Chloë Hanslip, violin)
34:41 Carl NIELSEN Symphony No. 4 (“The Inextinguishable”). 2nd movement, Poco allegretto
37:13 Gabriel FAURÉ Pavane (trans. Laurindo Almeida)*
39:17 Astor PIAZZOLLA Oblivion (trans. JoAnn Falletta)*
39:57 Manuel PONCE Concierto del sur. 1st movement, Allegro moderato (Marcin Dylla, guitar)
41:43 Piotr Ilych TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto. 3rd movement, Allegro vivacissimo (Chloë Hanslip, violin)
43:50 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). 3rd movement, Scherzo molto vivace
46:24 Georges BIZET. Chanson Bohème from Carmen (trans. Rivoal/Lambert)*
49:04 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). 4th movement, Allegro con fuoco
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