Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Extends Music Director Contract
By Afton Markay(Photo credit: David A. Beloff)
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has announced a three-year contract extension for its Music Director JoAnn Falletta, effective as of the end of the 2025-26 season.
Falletta will lead the orchestra through the end of the 2028-29 concert season, marking her 30th anniversary with the orchestra.
In 1999, Falletta was appointed Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the first woman to lead a major American orchestra. Highlights of her tenure so far include premiering over 20 new orchestral works and collaborations with soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, and Renée Fleming. Falletta helped initiate the Orchestra’s relationship with the Naxos label and led the orchestra to win two GRAMMY Awards and consecutive GRAMMY nominations in 2024 and 2025 for Best Orchestral Performance.
A graduate of the Mannes School of Music and The Juilliard School, Falletta’s mentors included Leonard Bernstein, Jorge Mester, Sixten Ehrling, and Semyon Bychkov. She has since conducted nearly 2,000 orchestral works by more than 600 composers, including over 135 works by more than 70 women composers.
Falletta also serves as Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, Conductor Laureate of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, plus was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Nebraska’s Omaha Symphony.
Of her appointment, the Orchestra’s President and Executive Director Daniel Hart said, “We all benefit from JoAnn’s mission to consistently enhance the artistry of the orchestra and have a meaningful impact on our greater community. She has created an enviable and unique profile for the BPO amongst American orchestras, and her dedication to recording and releasing albums of important orchestral works makes our impact global.”
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