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JoAnn Falletta Appointed to National Council on the Arts
Hampton Roads, VA… Acclaimed Virginia Symphony conductor JoAnn Falletta has been appointed to be a Member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts. The United States Senate confirmed President George W. Bush’s nomination of JoAnn Falletta to serve on the NCA on October 3, 2008 for a term extending through September 3, 2012.
Ms. Falletta joins a list of distinguished artists and arts advocates who have served on the National Council on the Arts since its establishment in 1964, including Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern. The National Council on the Arts advises the NEA Chairman on programs and policies. Council members review and make recommendations to the Chairman on grant applications, funding program guidelines, and national initiatives. Members are chosen for their widely recognized knowledge of the arts, their expertise or profound interest in the arts, and their established record of distinguished service or achievement in the arts. “I am very excited to have been appointed to serve on the NCA, and look forward to having the opportunity to promote the importance of the arts in America”, says JoAnn Falletta.
Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored her this past spring with her 10th ASCAP award. Falletta, who studied with Leonard Bernstein while she was a student at the Juilliard School, is the host of the nationally broadcast PBS television special, The Berlin Celebration Concert, which celebrates Bernstein's historic performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony marking the fall of the Berlin Wall, on Christmas Day 1989. The program was seen in Hampton Roads on WHRO TV 15 Public Broadcasting in September.
JoAnn currently serves as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic, and guest conducts many of the world's great symphony orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony.
For more information on the National Council on the Arts appointment, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080926-20.html
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The Virginia Symphony Orchestra with a complement of 79 professional musicians under the direction of Grammy-nominated Music Director JoAnn Falletta performs 140 concerts annually, reaching 200,000 concert goers every season in venues throughout the region. Our education and outreach programs reach 53,000 students and adult learners every year. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is the cultural cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.
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