Falletta, JoAnn
Falletta, JoAnn
Falletta, JoAnn, American conductor; b. N.Y., Feb. 27, 1954. She began classical guitar and piano lessons at age 7. In 1972 she entered the Marines Coll. of Music in N.Y. to continue her guitar studies but the next year became a conducting student of Sung Kwak (B.M., 1976; M.A., 1978). In 1982 she entered the Juilliard School in N.Y. on a conducting scholarship, completing her advanced training with Mester and Ehrling (M.M. 1983; D.M.A., 1989). From 1978 to 1990 she was music director of the Queens (N.Y.) Phil., and was also music director of the Denver Chamber Orch. (1983–92) and assoc. conductor of the Milwaukee Sym. Orch. (1985–88). In 1985 she won both the Stokowski and Toscanini conducting awards. From 1986 to 1995 she was music director of the Bay Area Women’s Phil, in San Francisco, with which she presented works by women composers of all eras. She concurrently served as music director of the Long Beach (Calif.) Sym. Orch. (1989–2000) and the Va. Sym. Orch. in Norfolk (from 1991). In 1998 she became music director of the Buffalo Phil. As a guest conductor, she appeared with orchs. in the U.S. and abroad.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire