JoAnn Falletta has a rapidly growing international reputation as a vibrant ambassador for music and as an inspiring artistic leader. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by The Washington Post as having “Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein.” 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, Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.

Ms. Falletta is invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. This year, she will make her South American debut with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, guest conduct the London Symphony in a program of music of Kenneth Fuchs to be recorded for the Naxos label, return to Asia to conduct the Korean Broadcast Symphony (KBS) in Seoul and the Beijing Symphony in China, and tour Germany and Italy with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie. This summer will be her first as Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.

Highlights of her recent international guest conducting appearances include the Haifa Symphony (Israel), Goettingen Symphony (Germany), Ulster Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Lithuania, Orquestra de Extremadura (Spain), Warsaw National Philharmonic, Kraków Philharmonic, Orchestra National de Belgique, Seoul Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National De Lyon, Northwest German Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Detroit, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Rochester, Utah, Edmonton, Quebec and the National Symphony. Ms. Falletta’s summer activities have taken her to numerous music festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, Grand Teton, Wolf Trap, Eastern Music, Cabrillo, OK Mozart International, Lanaudiere, Peter Britt, Breckenridge, Brevard and Interlochen, among others.

She is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, the coveted Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 400 works by American composers, including more than 100 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, she was honored with her 10th ASCAP award in 2008. Ms. Falletta serves as a Member of the National Council on the Arts.

The Buffalo Philharmonic, which celebrated its 75th Anniversary Season last year, will release three new recordings and record a fourth this season. The Orchestra has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in May 2013 as part of the Spring for Music Festival. This spring, the League of American Orchestras and ASCAP presented the BPO with a 2010-2011 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and awarded it second place nationally for Programming of Contemporary Music.

Since stepping up to the podium as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 1999, Ms. Falletta has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to a new level of national and international prominence. Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic returned to recording, releasing 12 discs on the Naxos label over the course of 10 years, earning two Grammy Awards and five Grammy nominations, and becoming one of the leading orchestras for the Naxos label and one of the most frequently recorded orchestras in the country. This season, the BPO is scheduled to release a disc of Gershwin works and will record the music of Duke Ellington for the Naxos label. The Orchestra will add to its Beau Fleuve discography with two new discs. Moreover, the BPO will once again be featured on national broadcasts of NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, as well as international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union. The Virginia Symphony’s 2011-12 season will be highlighted by the Orchestra’s first CD for the Naxos label, which will feature a collection of five pieces, including two world premieres by composer Adolphus Hailstork.

Ms. Falletta is celebrating her first season as Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra. She is the first American and the first woman to lead the Orchestra. She will have eight engagements with the orchestra in the first season of her three-year contract, conducting a quarter of the main season programs. She will also lead the orchestra in her first appearance at the Proms in London. The orchestra has a unique exclusive broadcast partnership with BBC, under which its concerts are recorded and streamed for internet broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio Ulster and BBC TV.

In the past 10 years, her recordings for the Naxos label have garnered nine Grammy nominations, including two Grammy awards in 2009 for John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man with the BPO. Ms. Falletta’s recording schedule for this season includes a world premiere recording of the music of Kenneth Fuchs with the London Symphony for the Naxos label and a recording with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra of the music of Arvo Pärt. Ms. Falletta’s growing discography, which currently includes 64 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia and Women’s Philharmonic, among others.

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.