Fredonia talent and BPO perform in concert

The SUNY Fredonia School of Music is proud to announce an exciting new collaboration with the world-renowned Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO).

The school and the Philharmonic will partner for a concert to be held on Sunday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall on the Fredonia campus. This special engagement will feature the orchestra under the direction of its celebrated conductor, JoAnn Falletta.

She and the orchestra will be joined by guest violin soloist and Fredonia School of Music Violin Professor Janet Sung, performing the famous Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35.

The program will also feature the Overture to Mignon by Ambroise Thomas and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.

The BPO has not performed at Fredonia in over 10 years. Tickets for the April 15 concert are $20 for the general public and $12 for students and are being sold through the SUNY Fredonia campus Central Ticket Office (716-673-3501; 866-441-4928).

As part of the new collaboration, begun in Fall 2006, members of the BPO have already presented master classes at SUNY Fredonia, including a conducting master class with Maestro Falletta, a violin master class with the new BPO concertmaster, Michael Ludwig, and others.

“We are thrilled to present this collaborative concert, in addition to the outstanding master classes that have already been held on campus,” said Fredonia School of Music Director Karl Boelter. “Our new partnership with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra exemplifies the ongoing commitment of both the School of Music and the Philharmonic to bringing world-class musical events to Western New York.”

Falletta, who has served as Music Director of the BPO since the fall of 1999, has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the finest conductors of her generation” and by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the brightest stars of symphonic music in America.” A strong advocate for cultural partnerships and community involvement, Falletta was named Buffalo’s most influential community leader, and Buffalo and Erie County’s Artist of the Year for excellence in creating and supporting the arts in Western New York.

As Buffalo’s cultural ambassador, the BPO has performed across the United States and Canada in hundreds of cities, including concerts at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, San Francisco’s Davies Hall, Montreal’s Place Des Arts, and more than 20 appearances in Carnegie Hall.