Issue One

There is a moment in Walt Disney’s animated classic, "Cinderella," where the heroine’s fairy godmother commands her magic wand to transform ashes and rags into finery and glass slippers. A sorcery that eventually delivers Cinderella into the classic fairy tale land of "happily ever after." It is this same type of metamorphosis that the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is experiencing under the leadership of its Music Director, JoAnn Falletta. For, after enduring a long stretch of ominous contract disputes, box office failures, diminished national prominence, conductor difficulties and a constant threat of collapse, the BPO is once again alive and kickin’, thanks in great part to this enchanting woman and her magical wand.

Throughout her professional podium perch of over twenty years, Falletta has developed a worldwide reputation for directing symphonies to new heights of excellence. In renowned music halls, on national radio and television broadcasts, in the recording industry and at box offices across the United States and Europe, her success story is the same. A talented maestro who quietly commands the classical music scene with a strong commitment to American composers, a devotion to quality in programming and performance, a personal involvement within the community and an absolute passion for music. Add to those elements, a charismatic personality fueled by a drive to accomplish any task at hand, and you have the formula that has enabled Falletta and her orchestras to triumph consistently, in spite of often challenging odds.

From Falletta’s perspective, her ability to succeed is not as much about setting goals as about following passions. "I was a very quiet, shy child. Growing up, music for me was a focus. It helped me throughout high school and college to gain a kind of self awareness and self respect."-two characteristics that served Falletta well during her pursuit of both masters and doctorate degrees in musical arts at the prestigious Juilliard School.

One of Juilliard’s accepted ways involved the study of conducting techniques with instructor Jorge Mester. Today, two decades later, Falletta clearly recalls Mester’s methods. "He had never taught a woman before, but being an individual who was very sensitive to the psychology of conducting, he noticed right away that I used a different body language than men did. He described it as a subtle sense of apology rather than demand, ‘asking’ rather than ‘insisting’."

From Mester’s perspective, Falletta’s conducting weakness was directly related to her heritage. "JoAnn was just a nice Italian girl who was very self-effacing. However, as I told her, a self-effacing conductor is an oxymoron." But to JoAnn’s credit, Mester found her to be a quick study. "JoAnn was always willing to take risks. She was one of the few people I’ve known that didn’t fight changing her bad habits. Additionally, one of her supreme graces was that she was able to take critiques without becoming personally involved."

Falletta credits her Juilliard educator with fostering the confidence necessary to excel in her craft. "My sense of authority on the podium comes from Jorge who helped me to recognize that it was my job to demand the best; to make direct eye contact; to state, rather than ask." She describes her developmental process: "I have never been the type of conductor who screams at musicians or throws the baton on the floor and stomps off. It just doesn’t fit my personality. Jorge taught me that if I could feel comfortable in the knowledge that demanding the best is my responsibility, then I could do it in my own style, which I have learned to do. He was very hard on me, but I will always be grateful to Jorge for making it so difficult."

The conducting style that Falletta employs has earned her kudos and respect throughout the classical music world, because of, and in spite of, her gender. Music critic Joseph Barro of the Washington Post succinctly summed up Falletta’s prominence when he wrote, "Few women have been able to establish high-profile conducting careers and of those who have, fewer have JoAnn Falletta’s talent."

For Falletta’s part, her career choice is truly not about anything other than following her heart’s desire. "I never thought about anything else. I never had another career path. I truly love what I am doing and consider it such a privilege to be in the middle of musicians making music so extraordinary. I can't imagine anyone more fortunate than I."

During the formative stage of her conducting career, Falletta also developed a personally unique music philosophy. "While I was at Juilliard, colleagues would ask me if I could find a way to play their compositions in concert, as most orchestras wouldn’t consider them. Gradually, I came to realize that if the United States is going to have an American cultural ideal in terms of its music, then we have an obligation as performers to help our composers by playing their works."

Steadfastly following her own belief, Falletta has since conducted more than three hundred and thirty American works written by over one hundred and ninety composers. Her support has been so strong and enduring that in 1998, Colombia University awarded Falletta the Ditson Conductors Award, given in honor of the advancement of American music. A footnote to this honor is that this conducting impresario was the first woman to receive the Ditson award, which included a five-thousand-dollar stipend that she, in turn, graciously donated to the Buffalo Philharmonic Fundraising Drive.

Rather than focusing on her generosity, Falletta chooses to detail her conducting motivation. "My real aim in playing music by living composers is to help them develop. Honestly, Beethoven would never have written his Ninth Symphony if he had not been able to convince anyone to play the other eight!" Flashing an impish grin, she then continues, "Part of the wonderfulness of doing new music is to be part of that development process where composers are getting stronger, getting better. They’re learning about themselves and about what they can do. If we say no to our composers, then how are we ever going to get them to the level where they really master their art?"

To provide composers with the necessary financial backing to reach such masterful levels, Maestro Falletta has turned her magic wand in the direction of big business and corporate sponsorships. "I refer to American corporations as the D’Medicis of our time. They have stepped in and formed alliances and liaisons that provide monies that enable us to support composers." Falletta’s position as a funding facilitator evolved as a direct result of her worldwide concert travels. "I noticed when I traveled to Europe to conduct, that in Germany for instance, they are playing music by young Germans. In Canada also, tremendous amounts of government monies are provided to enable orchestras to play the works of young Canadian composers. I feel very strongly that since in our country there are not those kinds of monies and support available, that American conductors have to take on this role."

A perfect example of this composer/conductor coalition is a marimba concerto that will premiere during the upcoming Buffalo Philharmonic season. American composer Barbara Kolb has been tapped as the creator, Evelyn Glennie, a percussionist from Scotland, who plays despite the handicap of deafness, as the performer. Falletta animatedly details the dual-purpose programming. "The Buffalo Philharmonic is commissioning this concerto in conjunction with the Virginia Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. It is the first in a series that will be sponsored every year, where each time there will be a new concerto created for a different instrument, written by an American. We then will play the pieces in world premiere performances in Buffalo so that the Philharmonic can start again to reclaim some of their reputation from the past."

Performer Glennie praises Falletta’s visionary commissions. "For most of my professional life, I have depended on commissioned pieces. So for someone like JoAnn to commission a percussion piece is very encouraging, not only for my personal fulfillment, but for the world of music as well." The musician then defines the greater good of Falletta’s work. "The work JoAnn does is very important to the world of music, for when a piece is commissioned it actually becomes a piece of history that will be there long after we are gone. It is vital that we move forward with such music and give orchestral members new music to expand their orchestral horizons."

In detailing the vast professional panorama of JoAnn Falletta’s life, one wonders what drives her to undertake programs of such grand proportions, while at the same time juggling an overflowing concert schedule. (In addition to her full conducting duties in Buffalo and Virginia, this year Falletta will guest conduct in Arizona, California, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, Singapore, Beijing and Caracas.) This conducting "Energizer Bunny" points to the rewards of creativity as her power source. "I think it’s thrilling to be part of a composer’s creative process. Usually the musicians and I do not write the music, we re-create it. But when the composer is actually in the concert hall working with us, for a moment, it’s as if we share in that creative process. It’s an actual sense that we’re creating something. And when we play it and the composer is alive and listening to it, I think that’s a lot of fun."

And what if the music commissioned is a failure or unacceptable? Falletta suggests that knowledge is the key to prevention. "It does happen once in a while that a commission doesn’t work out. Usually though, if you do your homework, you will know as much as you can about the composer’s artistic sensibility and know if you feel comfortable with it."

Then with a passionate insistence, Falletta begins anew. "We are out of touch with our contemporary composers and the twentieth century is the first century that this has been true. I believe that we have lost our connection to composers to the point where many people feel that there is nothing being written in the classical music world today that they want to hear. So there is a need for music directors to give orchestras and their audiences a sense that the symphony is still evolving and not just a museum to the nineteenth century."

This strong sense of musical evolution is one of the reasons Falletta agreed to assume the directorial reins of the Buffalo Philharmonic at a tumultuous point in their history. "I knew that Buffalo was one of the top orchestras in the country with a tremendous tradition and reputation. I also knew that Buffalo was ripe for development. My goal was to give them a vision of how I would like to challenge them to grow and provide a framework so that they could grow on their own."

Lawrence Ribits, Executive Director of the BPO, credits Falletta’s communication skills as the essential element of that growth framework. "JoAnn understands and is able to communicate what music can and should be for a musical audience. She also has a very strong sense of artistic direction and she challenges the orchestra to explore new paths as well as to return to some from a long time ago. It is very exciting to watch this artistic give-and-take that ultimately has made the Philharmonic such a strong endeavor."

All success aside, concerns arise when looking forward to the moment when Falletta will invariably move on and relinquish her Queen City directoral duties. In other cities, when this vigorous maestro has turned in her baton, the orchestras have often floundered, as if her departure creates in its wake a vacuum of dead air. In the four cities where Falletta has previously served as the music director, two orchestras are today solid and vital (The Virginia Symphony and The Long Beach Symphony, which was on the brink of bankruptcy when Falletta arrived); one temporarily shut down for a year to reorganize (The Women’s Symphony of San Francisco); and one permanently closed its doors due to budgetary problems (The Denver Chamber Orchestra).

Ribits freely acknowledges the problem that a leadership change can effect. He admits that both he and Falletta are already working on circumventing the inevitable. "The sense of legacy that JoAnn leaves is important to both of us. I’ve seen it in the industry over and over when strong artistic leadership leaves; there is a loss of identity. That is definitely one thing JoAnn and I do not want to see happen in Buffalo. So we try to make sure that everything we do is artistically rooted in a process that provides the building block foundation necessary to carry on as the orchestra evolves."

Falletta professes to a definite time frame before she shuffles out of Buffalo. "I want to help the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra develop a stronger personality and identity. So I have every intention of staying in Buffalo for at least five years. You really don’t effect any change in an orchestra until you’ve been there for two or three years. Then hopefully when you leave you feel you made something happen that might not have happened. You change the culture somewhat. The whole satisfaction is in seeing at a certain point you’ve come a distance and progress has been made."

While Falletta acknowledges that it is her persona in the marketing forefront that has attracted audiences and strengthened the BPO box office, she is quick to establish that the musicians are the real stars. "People in this region need to understand that they have a world-class orchestra here, that are in and of themselves, fabulous. I think the focus needs to be more and more on the musicians and less on the conductor. For, in actuality, when people attend the symphony, they are not supporting JoAnn, they are supporting the symphony."

As testimony to Falletta’s claims, the Buffalo Philharmonic has recently signed a three-CD-recording contract (not surprisingly to record a series devoted to the celebration of American music) and is scheduled to appear on regional and national television and radio programming in the ongoing 2000-2001 season. This directing dynamo does not feel pressured in any way by the traditions of the BPO’s past but rather openly welcomes the future. "You can’t really duplicate what happened in the past. My goal is to create a fresh approach to what we’re playing and to open the window for audiences to play new pieces that they would love to hear but are unknown to them. That is what keeps a symphony vibrant."

Vibrancy is a characteristic that fills every part of JoAnn Falletta’s five-foot-four-inch being. Whether in detailing her upcoming concert schedule, doting on nephew Jonathan and niece Chelsea, or enjoying the one hundred days a year that she manages to spend with her husband Robert, each moment is lived to the fullest. A life enmeshed in artistic endeavors provides Falletta’s zest. "Learning who we are and what life means to us is something only the arts can help us to do. There is no shortcut to becoming the human being you want to be, but the arts are the key that touch something basic in us, create a freedom within, to understand more of who we are."

She earnestly tenders advice to those who profess an absence of any artistic ability. "We all have an artist inside, no matter if you’re a business person or a lawyer or a doctor, we all have that part inside that is artistic. So let it be part of your life. Let art inform everything you do and stimulate you, whether it be in ballet, drama, or music. There is no shortcut to becoming the human being you want to be, but I truly believe that whatever your goals, the arts are ultimately the key."

A life philosophy of enchanting possibilities courtesy of the musical, magical JoAnn Falletta.