In Wednesday’s (4/16) Buffalo News, Mary Kunz Goldman reports that in September JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony Orchestra, will step down from her post at Northern Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra, where she has been chief conductor since 2011. “Her successor, the orchestra’s website states, will be Rafael Payare, 33, of Venezuela. Payare is a former member of Venezuela’s famous Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra…. The Ulster Orchestra reports that Payare’s agenda includes plans to introduce [Venezuela’s music-education program] ‘El Sistema’ to Northern Ireland’s children in the coming season. The Ulster Orchestra has been suffering from financial difficulties and is currently undergoing a restructuring. Falletta’s tenure with the group, though, has had memorable highlights. She made her debut at London’s prestigious Proms with the orchestra in 2011 and also has made four recordings with the orchestra for Naxos, the label that also records her with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Her Naxos discs with the Ulster Orchestra have included discs of the music of Gustav Holst, the Irish composer Ernest John Moeran and American composer John Knowles Paine.”
Posted April 17, 2014
