JoAnn Falletta

Multiple Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, and Conductor Emeritus of the Hawaii Symphony. Recently named as one of the 50 great conductors of all time by Gramophone Magazine, she is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder and champion of American composers.

As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major America ensemble. She has guest conducted over a hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

With a discography of over 120 titles, JoAnn is a leading recording artist for Naxos. She has won two individual Grammy Awards, including the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance as Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic in the world premiere Naxos recording, Richard Danielpour’s “The Passion of Yeshua”. In 2019, she won her first individual Grammy Award as Conductor of the London Symphony in the Best Classical Compendium category for Spiritualist, her fiYh world premiere recording of the music of Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan with the BPO received two Grammys in 2008, and her 2020 Naxos recording with the BPO of orchestral music of Florent Schmitt received the Diapason d’Or Award.

Falletta is a member of the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by Presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. ASCAP has honored her as “a leading force for music of our time.” In 2019, JoAnn was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of The Year.

After earning her bachelor’s degree at Mannes, Falletta received master’s and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School.