![Kleinhans Music Hall Interior with BPO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Kleinhans_Music_Hall_Interior_with_BPO.jpg)
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
led by Music Director
JoAnn Faletta. Its primary performing venue is
Kleinhans Music Hall
Kleinhans Music Hall is a concert venue located on Symphony Circle in Buffalo, New York. The hall "is renowned for its acoustical excellence and graceful architecture." Kleinhans is currently the home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a regu ...
, which is a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. Each season it presents over 120 classical series, pops, rock, youth, and family concerts. During the summer months, the orchestra performs at parks and outdoor venues across Western New York.
The orchestra was founded by Cameron Baird, Frederick Slee, and
Samuel P. Capen in 1934. Past music directors of the Philharmonic include
William Steinberg
William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) was a German-American conductor.
Biography
Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, ...
,
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
,
Willis Page,
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor.
Career
Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...
,
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
,
Semyon Bychkov, and
Maximiano Valdés. The current music director is
JoAnn Falletta, the orchestra's first female music director.
John Morris Russell is the Principal Pops Conductor. Other celebrated conductors who have led the orchestra include
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
,
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir
Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the ...
, and
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
. Previous pops conductors include
Doc Severinsen, the resident
pops conductor in the 1990s, and
Marvin Hamlisch, best known for his
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning musical,
A Chorus Line
''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...
.
The orchestra has recorded extensively. Under Steinberg, the BPO released a critically acclaimed first commercial recording:
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
's Seventh Symphony. Under Falletta's directorship, the BPO's recording program has focused on American composers for the
Naxos label
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about ...
, including
Frederick Converse
Frederick Shepherd Converse (January 5, 1871 – June 8, 1940), was an American composer of classical music, whose works include four operas and five symphonies.
Life and career
Converse was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Winc ...
,
Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his lat ...
, and contemporary compositions, including the first commercial recording of
John Corigliano's ''Mr Tambourine Man'' which received two
GRAMMY Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in 2009. The orchestra won another GRAMMY in 2021 for its recording of
Richard Danielpour
Richard Danielpour (born January 28, 1956) is an American composer.
Early life
Danielpour was born in New York City of Persian Jewish descent and grew up in New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. He studied at Oberlin College and the New E ...
's "The Passion of Yeshua." She also founded a house label, Beau Fleuve, on which the orchestra has released many discs including "Built For Buffalo," featuring commissioned works, and "Carnivals and Fairy Tales," a children's album narrated by Falletta and
Robby Takac
Robert Carl Takac Jr. (born September 30, 1964) is an American rock bassist and vocalist. Takac is one of the founding members of the Goo Goo Dolls, along with Johnny Rzeznik.
Background
Takac was born in Buffalo, New York and grew up in the Buf ...
of the
Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik, bassist/vocalist Robby Takac, and drummer George Tutuska.
After starting off as a cover band and then developing a punk sou ...
. The orchestra can also be heard in the soundtrack to
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
's ''
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
''.
History
Creation and early years
During the late 1920s and early 30s, considerable efforts were made to foster interest in a professional orchestra for the Greater Buffalo community. By late 1934, via the efforts of Cameron Baird, Frederick Slee and
Samuel Capen
Samuel Howard Capen (March 12, 1848 – May 24, 1943) was sheriff of Norfolk County, Massachusetts from 1898 to 1939.
Biography
Samuel Capen was born in Canton, Massachusetts on March 12, 1848.
He served as sheriff of Norfolk County, Massachu ...
, a conductor of extensive European training was recruited to Buffalo in the person of Lajos Shuk, a cellist and director of the New York Civic Symphony. Two buildings which house the music department at the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...
have been named after Baird and Slee, while the university's main administration building is named after Capen. Shortly thereafter, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society was formed and a series of classics concerts and the first BPO youth concerts were presented in the 1935–36 season.
Through the leadership of Society President Mrs. Florence B. Wendt, funds were raised to maintain a viable ensemble through 1937 when support was received from the federal WPA project, which sponsored additional players and recruited a conductor named Franco Autori from the
Dallas Symphony
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas.
History
The orchestra traces its origins to a ...
. Over the next two seasons the orchestra suffered various administrative and financial growing pains. The orchestra also began performing run-out concerts to neighboring localities like
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
. By the opening of the 1939–40 season, the Society and the Greater Buffalo community were ready to provide support for the expansion of both the classical and lighter 'Pops' programming by the orchestra.
Kleinhans Music Hall
Kleinhans Music Hall
Kleinhans Music Hall is a concert venue located on Symphony Circle in Buffalo, New York. The hall "is renowned for its acoustical excellence and graceful architecture." Kleinhans is currently the home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a regu ...
was opened in the fall of 1940. Constructed with funds in part bequeathed by Edward L. Kleinhans and Mary Seaton Kleinhans, the Hall has since served as the Orchestra's permanent home. Kleinhans Music Hall was designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1989. The hall was designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Though some improvements have been made, there have been little changes since the construction of the hall. The hall has a seating capacity of 2,400.
The BPO dedication concert of Kleinhans in October 1940 allowed the orchestra to grow with additional players, expanded outreach, the regular appearance of major concertizing artists, a series of FM broadcasts, and a diversification of repertoire. Autori resigned in the spring of 1945 and closed his tenure by conducting the Buffalo premiere of Copland's
Lincoln Portrait
''Lincoln Portrait'' (also known as ''A Lincoln Portrait'') is a classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The ...
with
Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
as narrator.
William Steinberg era
Cameron Baird (the Chairman of the
UB Music Department) received a recommendation from
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
of the
NBC Symphony
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ar ...
that its Associate Conductor,
William Steinberg
William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) was a German-American conductor.
Biography
Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, ...
, would be suitable for the job.
The Steinberg era of the BPO had many changes in orchestra personnel, including the beginning of an influx of European musicians who had sought new lives and careers here in the United States just after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Their presence served to define a distinctly European sound that began during the late 40s and continued throughout the 50s and well beyond. The BPO's first commercial recording, the Leningrad Symphony No.7 by
Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...
, was released on the Musicraft label during this period. Several of the Orchestra's performances were recorded for broadcast on the NBC radio network, beginning in 1947, and currently preserved in the BPO Archive and at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
.
Krips, Foss, and Artpark
Steinberg resigned in 1952 to take over the
Pittsburgh Symphony
The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
History
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an Americ ...
.
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
, the former Music Director of the Vienna State Opera and
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
was then chosen to lead the orchestra. The Krips era witnessed a major expansion in the length of the season and the number of musicians employed as well as the re-initiation of major tours in the eastern United States and Canada, including the Maritime Provinces.
Krips resigned in 1961 to take over the
San Francisco Symphony.
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor.
Career
Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...
became the new director of BPO.
The Orchestra was invited to Carnegie Hall for the first of regular appearances there. Its first major recordings were made on the Nonesuch label featuring the music of
Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
, Cage,
Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
, Xenakis, Ruggles and Foss. BPO's first nationwide TV appearances were broadcast on PBS with
Stockhousen's Momente and
Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
's Pictures at an Exhibition, after which followed the initiation of several major tours, including two national tours with Arthur Fiedler and his 'Pops' repertoire. Buffalo and the BPO received feature coverage in Life Magazine. In 1970 maestro Foss shared the dais with Governor
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
at the groundbreaking of
Artpark
Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park (or Earl W. Brydges State Artpark) is a state park located in the Village of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. The park, which is officially named after former New York State Senator Earl Brydges, is ge ...
, the permanent summer home of the BPO.
1971 – Present
When Foss resigned to take on the
Jerusalem Symphony in 1971, he was followed
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
. Over the next several seasons with Thomas, the Orchestra made two Columbia recordings and toured regularly, with frequent appearances in Carnegie Hall, including a gala special with
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.
Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...
, and performances in Boston's
Symphony Hall and Washington's
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
. In July 1974, Thomas also presided over the BPO dedication concert at Artpark as the Orchestra's intended summer home. Thomas resigned in 1978 after accepting an appointment with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
.
In 1979,
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after th ...
, the former maestro of the
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived.
The opera company, du ...
, became the music director. Though faced with many financial constraints, Rudel's tenure was marked with emphasis on the classical repertoire as well as gala performances with
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s.
Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned for ...
and
Plácido Domingo
José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
. Rudel also took the BPO on a West Coast tour and made a commemorative recording with CBS Masterworks of music for the holiday season.
Rudel's departure in the spring of 1984 was followed by the appointment of
Semyon Bychkov, who had been the BPO's Assistant Conductor for the previous three seasons. Bychkov announced that the BPO would make its first tour of Europe in addition to directing the BPO's 50th anniversary season and making a commemorative recording featuring
Roberta Peters
Roberta Peters (May 4, 1930 – January 18, 2017) was an American coloratura soprano.
One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Oper ...
of the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
. The 1988 European tour consisted of performances at
Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, as well as concerts in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Zurich, Milan, and
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
and other venues in Germany and Switzerland.
Bychkov resigned in 1989 to take over the
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris.
History
In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Co ...
, with Chilean maestro
Maximiano Valdes replacing him as music director.
In 1998
JoAnn Falletta was appointed as the new maestro, becoming the first woman named as the music director of a major U.S. symphony orchestra. Under her direction, the orchestra reinitiated a series of broadcasts on public radio and returned to
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
in 2004 and 2013 as part of Spring for Music. Falletta led the orchestra on numerous multi-city tours of Florida, at the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is a large amphitheatre located in Saratoga Springs, New York, on the grounds of Saratoga Spa State Park. It presents summer performances of classical music, jazz, pop and rock, country, comedy, dance, opera, ...
in 2012, and in 2018 led a five-city tour of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
at the invitation of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
. With Falletta, the BPO also has issued more than 50 new CDs, including twenty on
Naxos Records
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...
, and has specialized in recording lesser-known European works from the late 19th and early 20th century. Soloists who have appeared with the BPO under maestro Falletta include
Van Cliburn
Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold Wa ...
,
Renée Fleming
Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 1 ...
,
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
,
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 29 June 1963) is a German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan. As an advocate of contemporary music, she has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henri ...
,
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Early life and education
Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psychologis ...
, and
André Watts
André Watts (born June 20, 1946) is an American classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
Life and early performances
Born in Nurember ...
.
The BPO is one of the most often played orchestras on
Performance Today
''Performance Today'' is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio program, first aired in 1987 and hosted since 2000 by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million liste ...
, and BPO concerts are therefore broadcast in over 200 cities annually. Its CDs are frequently featured on the
Sirius
Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...
radio network and it has been featured three times on
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's From the Top.
Music directors
![JoAnn Falletta sitting on stage with baton by Cheryl Gorski Photography](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/JoAnn_Falletta_sitting_on_stage_with_baton_by_Cheryl_Gorski_Photography.jpg)
* Lajos Shuk (1935–1936)
* Franco Autori (1936–1945)
*
William Steinberg
William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) was a German-American conductor.
Biography
Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, ...
(1945–1952)
*
Izler Solomon
Izler Solomon (January 11, 1910 – December 6, 1987) was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest.
Career
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Izler Solomon's first position as music director was
from 1936 to 1941 with the Illinoi ...
(1952–1953, conductor-in-residence)
*
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
(1954–1963)
*
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor.
Career
Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...
(1963–1971)
*
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
(1971–1979)
*
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after th ...
(1979–1985)
*
Semyon Bychkov (1985–1989)
*
Maximiano Valdes (1989–1998)
*
JoAnn Falletta (1999–present)
References
External links
Official siteDiscography at SonyBMG MasterworksSUNY Buffalo link to Buffalo Philharmonic page, performing archive
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1934
Music of Buffalo, New York
Economy of Buffalo, New York
1934 establishments in New York (state)
Orchestras based in New York (state)