A slight from The Times?
JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, recently had her contract extended
An outraged reader called in this afternoon to express her discontent with a front page story in today's New York Times on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
In that story, a review of the orchestra's performance in Baltimore on Friday, Anthony Tommasini writes that with that performance, BSO director Marin Alsop "became the first woman to hold a music director’s post at a major American orchestra."
But wait a second.
The caller was quick to point out that our own JoAnn Falletta, who has held the director position at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999, preceded Alsop by years. How, she wanted to know, could this escape the eye of Tommasini?
The answer there lies in the the writer's definition of "major." Though the BPO tours and records extensively, is nationally recognized for its innovative and original programming and possesses a level of quality larger cities have been unable to maintain, the BPO -- according to the story -- remains sub-standard.
Someone should tell that to Van Cliburn, who packed the house on Sept. 15 for the BPO's season opener.
So, just what makes an orchestra "major?" And what does Buffalo need to do to swim in the same school as, say, Baltimore?
--Colin Dabkowski
