Conductors
Few artists are as important to the fabric of their communities as JoAnn Falletta. Acclaimed by The New York Times as “one of the finest conductors of her generation”, she serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by The Washington Post as having “Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein.” Both on and off the podium, she is a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader.
This year marks Maestro Falletta’s 20th season as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony. Under her direction, the VSO has risen to celebrated artistic heights and become recognized as one of the nation’s leading regional symphony orchestras. Recent achievements of the Virginia Symphony under the baton of Music Director JoAnn Falletta include thirteen recordings for national release, a performance of Peter and the Wolf which was aired on National Public Radio, and groundbreaking performances at the Kennedy Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Ms. Falletta has been invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. Highlights of her recent and upcoming international guest conducting appearances include the Haifa Symphony (Israel), Goettingen Symphony (Germany), Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile(Chile), Ulster Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Lithuania, Orquestra de Extremadura (Spain), Warsaw National Philharmonic, Kraków Philharmonic, Orchestra National de Belgique, Seoul Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Orchestra of Asturias (Spain), Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National De Lyon, Northwest German Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Symphony. She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Detroit, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, New Jersey, Seattle, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Rochester, Utah, Edmonton, Quebec and the National Symphony.
Ms. Falletta is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards, including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award for exceptionally gifted American conductors, the coveted Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 400 works by American composers, including more than 80 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored JoAnn Falletta with her 10th ASCAP award in 2008. Ms. Falletta serves as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Since stepping up to the podium as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 1999, Maestro Falletta has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to a new level of national and international prominence. Under her direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic, which is celebrating its 75 anniversary this season, returned to recording, releasing 12 discs on the NAXOS label over the course of 10 years, earning two Grammy Awards and five Grammy nominations, and making the BPO one of the leading orchestras for the Naxos label and one of the most frequently recorded orchestras in the country. Last season, she led the BPO in its first multi-city tour since 1988, embarking on the artistically and financially successful five city “Florida Friends Tour” in March 2010. In 2004, the BPO performed to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall in New York City, renewing an association with Carnegie where the BPO had performed twenty-two times in the past.
Maestro Falletta’s growing discography, which currently includes nearly 60 titles, consists of recordings with the London Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia and the Women’s Philharmonic, among others. Her recording schedule for this season includes two recordings with the London Symphony for Naxos, Jack Gallagher’s One Movement Symphony to be released in September, and Ken Fuch’s An American Rhapsody.
Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School, and in addition has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates.
Robert Shoup celebrates his 14th season as Chorusmaster/Staff Conductor. Known for ensembles called by critics “totally enthralling” and “completely mesmerizing,” Shoup has produced a new Holiday Pops for the 2010-2011 season with celebrated arrangements of holiday classics by renowned Grammy-winning conductor Robert Page.
Shoup collaborated in April 2010 in the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Arts Festival acclaimed production of the Leonard Bernstein “Mass.”
Shoup helped create "American Voices", a collaborative two week festival of American choral music which earned an NEA "American Masterpieces: Choral Music" grant.
Shoup co-directed a choir of 1,800 singers for the 400th Anniversary celebration of Jamestown at which President George W. Bush took the baton from JoAnn Falletta and conducted the orchestra in a photo op seen round the world.
Shoup, a singer with “an especially fine tenor voice” has performed with Renee Fleming, Lorin Maazel, Rosemary Clooney, Garrison Keillor, Kristin Chenowith and Rob Fisher. Shoup sang the role of John Adams in the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Crispus Attucks.
Shoup has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education (voice) from Duquesne University, and a Master’s in Conducting from the studio of Robert Page at Carnegie Mellon University.
He is Minister of Music at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk.
Benjamin Rous is in his second season as Associate Conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He delighted audiences during his first season with his musicality and conducting style on the podium that included a “dancing moment” with Aaron Neville at the opening POPS concert and “jammin’” at the Beatles Classical Mystery Tour performance with the Symphony. As Associate Conductor, Rous serves as maestro for POPS, Classics, Peanut Butter & Jam Family concerts, free outdoor concerts and the Young People’s Concerts for schoolchildren.
Rous is a 2000 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. While at Harvard, he served as Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra, played baroque violin in the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, and conducted his first opera performances. He received a master’s degree in conducting in 2006 from the University of Michigan where he also studied harpsichord and continuo and pursued an interest in dance.
Akiko FujimotoBack to top
The 2011-2012 season marks Akiko Fujimoto’s fifth season in the combined position of Conducting Associate for
the Virginia Symphony and Director of Orchestras at the College of William & Mary. Hailed as “a very talented conductor who knows her score and her musicians” (The Virginia Gazette), she has won critical acclaim for her leadership of the William & Mary Symphony Orchestra. In the spring of 2011, Fujimoto led the WMSO in its first appearance at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria VA. Fujimoto is also in her fourth season as Music Director of the Williamsburg Youth Orchestras.
Fujimoto conducted the Virginia Symphony’s 2009-2010 series of Young People’s Concerts and the Virginia Beach performance of the VSO Classics concert featuring the world premiere of Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra at Regent University.
Prior to arriving in Virginia, Ms. Fujimoto served as Music Director of the Mozart Society at Harvard University for five years, where her performances won wide acclaim with audiences and musicians alike and included collaborations with pianist Robert Levin, conductor Larry Rachleff and the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus. In 2003-2004, Fujimoto took a leave from Harvard to serve as the interim Music Director of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra at Stanford University.
Fujimoto made her professional debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada) in 2006 as one of the five participants in the NAC Conductors Programme under the guidance of Kenneth Kiesler and Pinkas Zukerman.
In 2007, she also worked with Sian Edwards and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Neil Varon and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, both part of conductor training workshops.
A native of Japan, Fujimoto immigrated to California at age 14 and studied trombone, piano and voice. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Psychology from Stanford University; a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music and a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University.