TABLE OF CONTENTS | MAY 7 – JUNE 8

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OFFICERS

John R. Yurtchuk, Chair Scott Stenclik, Vice Chair — Chair-Elect Angelo Fatta, Treasurer Peter Eliopoulos, Secretary

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Cindy Abbott Letro Douglas Bean Jonathan Borden † Janz Castelo † Anne Conable Stephen B. Edge, MD* JoAnn Falletta* Otis N. Glover Amy Habib Rittling Daniel Hart* Jim Hettich Mark Hodges † Kate Holzemer † James Iglewski William Keefer Ronald Luczak Alex Montante Allan C. Ripley* Casimiro D. Rodriguez, Sr. Rev. Melody I. Rutherford Diana Sachs † Robin G. Schulze, Ph.D Joseph Sedita Brett Shurtliffe † Karen Sperrazza Christine Standish Stephen T. Swift John Zak*

*ex-officio † musician representatives

LIFE MEMBERS

Anthony Cassetta Randall Odza Edwin Polokoff John N. Walsh, III Robert G. Weber

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA FOUNDATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John J. Zak, Chair Holly Hejmowski, Treasurer Alexs Spellman, Secretary Michael Munschauer, Special Advisor Karen Arrison Michael Wurst John Yurtchuk

JOANN FALLETTA MUSIC DIRECTOR

Angelo and Carol Fatta Endowed Chair

Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Connie and Marc Jacobson Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. She is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder, and champion of American composers. Her recent and upcoming North American guest conducting includes the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Milwaukee Symphony; and further north, the Toronto Symphony and Orchestre metropolitain. Internationally, she has conducted many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America. As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble. Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the Buffalo Philharmonic this past season, she is credited with bringing the orchestra to a new level of national and international prominence. With a discography of almost 120 titles, Falletta is a leading recording artist for Naxos. At the 63rd Annual Grammy® Awards in March 2021, Falletta won her fourth Grammy® as conductor of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua in the category of Best Choral Performance. In 2019, she won her first individual Grammy Award as conductor of the London Symphony in the Best Classical Compendium category for Spiritualist, her fifth world premiere recording of the music of Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra received two Grammys in 2008. Falletta is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations, and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. In March 2019, JoAnn was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year. She received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School. When not on the podium, JoAnn enjoys playing classical guitar, writing, cycling, yoga, and is an avid reader.

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JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL

PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR

A master of American musical style, John Morris Russell has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. Now in his fourth year as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, he follows in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen. The wide-range and diversity of his work as a conductor, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Buffalo and across the continent. Maestro Russell also serves as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, one of the world’s most iconic and beloved pops orchestras, with which he has toured both domestically and internationally. His six recordings with The Pops include “American Originals: 1918” which earned a 2020 GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Classical Compendium. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, he leads the classical subscription series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition. As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with many of the most distinguished orchestras in North America, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic as well as the Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.

JAMAN E. DUNN

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Jaman E. Dunn is an African American orchestral conductor of classical and film music. He currently holds the positions of Assistant Conductor with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Interim Music Director of the Buffalo Master Chorale. A native of Chicago, IL, he attended The Ohio State University for his undergraduate studies, earning a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance under the study of Dr. C. Andrew Blosser. During his time at Ohio State, Mr. Dunn founded and conducted the Buckeye Philharmonic Orchestra, which is the university’s only completely student run orchestra. Mr. Dunn also earned his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting, under the instruction of Maestro Bruce Hangen at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. While at the Boston Conservatory, he led the Conductor’s Orchestra, assisted the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, and conducted the Boston Conservatory Orchestra in Copland’s Billy the Kid. Other conducting activities included forming an ad-hoc orchestra and performing three concerts, premiering pieces on student composer recitals, and conducting the Berklee Boston Conservatory Recording Orchestra. Vocally, Mr. Dunn has performed throughout the Midwest and Northeast in both oratorio and operatic repertoire, including works of Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Verdi, and Orff, among others. In a professional capacity, he hopes to raise awareness for African-American performers in classical music at all levels and in all mediums.

HISTORY OF

THE BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

As Buffalo’s cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director JoAnn Falletta presents more than 120 Classics, Pops, Rock, Family and Youth concerts each year. After the rise and fall of several forerunners, the BPO was founded in 1935, performing most often at the Elmwood Music Hall, which was located at Elmwood Ave. and Virginia St., and demolished in 1938 as its permanent home, Kleinhans Music Hall, was constructed. During the Great Depression, the orchestra was initially supported by funds from the Works Progress Administration and the Emergency Relief Bureau. Over the decades, the orchestra has matured in stature under outstanding conductors including William Steinberg, Josef Krips, Lukas Foss, Michael Tilson Thomas, Maximiano Valdes, Semyon Bychkov and Julius Rudel. The orchestra has welcomed many distinguished guest performers, such as Isaac Stern, Aaron Copland, Van Cliburn, Igor Stravinsky, Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma. During the tenure of JoAnn Falletta, who has served as music director since 1998, the BPO has rekindled its history of radio broadcasts and recordings, including the release of 51 new CDs. The BPO’s Naxos recording of composer John Corigliano’s “Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan,” won two Grammys. Our recordings are heard on classical radio worldwide.

HISTORY OF

KLEINHANS MUSIC HALL

Since 1940, the orchestra’s home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, which enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the world due to its superb acoustics. Kleinhans Music Hall was built thanks to the generosity and vision of Edward and Mary Seaton Kleinhans and the stewardship of their charitable dreams by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the support of the federal government. The Community Foundation was bequeathed the estates of Mr. and Mrs. Kleinhans, who made their fortune from the clothing store that bore their name, and who died within three months of each other in 1934. The Public Works Administration, an agency of the New Deal, provided crucial funding that made it possible to complete the hall. The Kleinhans, who were music lovers, specified their money was to be used “to erect a suitable music hall…for the use, enjoyment and benefit of the people of the City of Buffalo.” The BPO performed at Kleinhans Music Hall’s official opening on Oct. 12, 1940, under the baton of Franco Autori. Kleinhans Music Hall was designed by the Finnish father-and-son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, along with architects F.J. and W.A. Kidd. Kleinhans is known for its combination of graceful structural beauty and extraordinary acoustics. Eliel Saarinen’s aim was to create “an architectural atmosphere…so as to tune the performers and the public alike into a proper mood of performance and receptiveness, respectively.” In 1989, the hall was designated a National Historic Landmark, the highest designation of significance a site or structure can receive. Kleinhans is owned by the City of Buffalo but operated by a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Its Board of Directors is Jeremy Oczek, chair; Karen Arrison, vice chair; Stephanie Simeon, secretary and treasurer; Cindy Abbott Letro; Peter Eliopoulos ; Tania Werbizky; and city officials including Byron Brown, Mayor of the City of Buffalo, and David Rivera, Niagara District Councilmember.

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

DIVERSITY COUNCIL

The BPO formed the Diversity Council in May 2016, formalizing its longstanding commitment to present diverse programming, to support artists of color, and to engage with every part of the Western New York community in a meaningful way. Comprised of community leaders, BPO staff, and musicians, the Council is helping the BPO to take its place at the vanguard of a national movement to foster greater diversity in the classical music world. As an inaugural step, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra was the first cultural organization to sign Mayor Byron Brown’s Opportunity Pledge in July 2016, affirming our commitment to foster, cultivate, and preserve a culture of diversity, inclusion, fairness, and equality. Since then, the Council has been involved in numerous projects aimed at increasing authentic community connection and access to the BPO for all of Buffalo. This is accomplished through partnerships including the African-American Cultural Center, the Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY, the International Institute, the Buffalo Public Schools, and many others. The BPO is also a proud partner to the nationally-acclaimed Sphinx Organization, founded in 1997 to address the under-representation of people of color in classical music.