Falletta to NCA

American 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.

Last week, Naxos released Falletta's ninth contribution to its label, the world premiere recording of John Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poem of Bob Dylan with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. 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 can currently be seen on multiple dates through December 2008.

JoAnn currently serves as Music Director of both the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, 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.

More information on Maestro Falletta may be found at JoAnnFalletta.com. For more information on the National Council on the Arts appointment, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080926-20.html