American Academy of Arts and Science Elects BPO's JoAnn Falletta

BUFFALO, NY -- JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The induction ceremony will take place on October 8, 2016in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the Academy welcomes Maestro Falletta together with her fellow newly elected Academy members by saying "As individuals, in your respective fields, you have each extended the limits of what we can do as a people, a nation, and a world. When considered as a group, you allow us to envision future possibilities-discoveries that, years hence, will improve health, help us explore the universe, contribute to technology that strengthens our economy, advance our understanding of fair and decent communities, and cause our spirits to soar through the power of music and the arts."

As expressed in its 1780 Charter, the Academy's purpose is "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." Maestro Falletta joins the company of notable members - from John Adams, James Bowdoin, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell, and Alexander Graham Bell. Says Academy President Fanton: "Our current members represent today's innovative thinkers in every field and profession, including more than two hundred fifty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners" noting that JoAnn Falletta "has been elected from among the nation's-and the world's-leaders in the mathematical and physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences, the humanities and the arts, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector."

"I am delighted and deeply honored to join such illustrious colleagues at the Academy," says Falletta. "The election is a resounding expression of the validity of classical music and symphony orchestras in our country."

Hailing her as a "leading force for the music of our time," the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has honored JoAnn Falletta with twelve ASCAP awards, recognizing her work as a conductor, communicator, recording artist, audience builder, champion of American composers and distinguished musical citizen. Ms. Falletta served as a member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the recipient of many of the world's top conducting awards and her recordings have garnered two Grammy Awards and multiple Grammy Nominations. In addition to her posts as music director of both the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, she is frequently invited to guest conduct 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.

More information on Maestro Falletta may be found at www.JoAnnFalletta.com. For more information on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, including a complete list of the 2016 new members, visit https://www.amacad.org.

Hi-res images of JoAnn Falletta are available at www.joannfalletta.com/press

As Buffalo's cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of music director JoAnn Falletta presents more than 100 concerts each year. Since 1940, the orchestra's home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Landmark with a reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States. During the tenure of JoAnn Falletta, the BPO has rekindled its history of radio broadcasts and recordings, including the release of 36 new recordings on the Naxos and Beau Fleuve labels. For more information about the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, visit www.bpo.org.