Falletta joins arts council

JoAnn Falletta, music director of Hampton Roads' Virginia Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic, has been named by President Bush to the National Council on the Arts, the panel that advises the National Endowment for the Arts on policy, initiatives and funding grants.

"They wanted to know about my philosophy on the arts, the role of government in the arts," Falletta told The Buffalo News of her lengthy interview for the post with unnamed Washington officials. "Not knowing what they were looking for, I told them what I felt truthfully. It was very quiet, very secretive."

Her appointment runs until 2012:

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/457635.html

A profile of Falletta by Charles Ward, one of the last pieces written by the veteran critic before his retirement from the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/6037057.html