JoAnn Falletta Makes Debut with Orchestra of St Lukes at Carnegie Hall Tonight

JoAnn Falletta will be making her debut with the Orchestra of St Lukes at Carnegie Hall tonight, December 10 in a program that features the music of the "Canadian Mozart", Andre Mathieu, performed by Alain Lefevre.

The program at 8 PM in Stern Auditorium is a fascinating one, featuring Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre-champion of André Mathieu, the child prodigy known as "Canada's Mozart"-performing two of the composer's magnificent concerti in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Mathieu's last performance at Carnegie Hall. Mathieu's Concertino won the New York Philharmonic's Young Composers Contest in 1942, and the Piano Concerto No. 4, reconstructed by Lefèvre, will be heard for the first time in New York. The program also includes Mozart's Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425 "Linz". Tickets are available through CarnegieHall.org.

Mathieu's music is one of the forgotten, rarely heard gems of classical music. JoAnn has earned a reputation, through her recordings of music by Holocaust victim, Marcel Tyberg, among others, of programming and recording important works that have been forgotten or hidden rarely heard. The story of Mathieu's meteoric rise and tragic end as "Canada's Mozart" is the subject of the film L'enfant Prodige (The Child Prodigy), with music direction by Alain Lefèvre. Mathieu, born in 1929, began composing at the age of 4, and at age 7 performed his Concertino No.1 for Piano and Orchestra as a soloist on the CBC network. By age 12, Mathieu won the first prize at the composition competition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He also played his Concertino No. 2 for piano and orchestra at Carnegie Hall. As a young adult, he succumbed to alcoholism and died suddenly at the age of 39 in 1968.

JoAnn serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.

Highlights of her season with the Buffalo Philharmonic include a tour of Florida in February 2014 and the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition, which will be held in Buffalo in June 2014.

As the Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Ireland, she is the first woman and the first American to fill this post, which is considered one of the most important cultural positions in Northern Ireland.

Upcoming guest conducting appearances include the Puerto Rico Symphony in November, the Warsaw Philharmonic in December, and the Detroit Symphony in June.

JoAnn has several new discs out this season, including music of John Knowles Pain and Ernest Moeran with the Ulster Orchestra, a new Tyberg disc with the Buffalo Philharmonic, recently issued discs of music of Gershwin and Ellington with the BPO and a world premiere recording of music of Ken Fuchs with the London Symphony. She has a recording of Der Rosenkavalier with the BPO on Naxos, which was Grammy nominated in the engineer category and a top Naxos pick for 2009. Her discs for Naxos have won two Grammy awards and ten Grammy nominations.

JoAnn serves on the National Council for the Arts, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the recipient of many of the top conducting awards and prizes, including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Award for exceptionally gifted American conductors. ASCAP has given her 11 awards, calling her a "leading force for music of our time."