by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer

The Sewanee Summer Music Festival will present a concert honoring Maestra JoAnn Falletta on the occasion of her honorary degree from the University of the South.

Falletta, a multiple Grammy-winning conductor and director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, has served as a conductor with the Sewanee Summer Music Festival for a number of years.

“It’s been a fantastic experience for me, and especially this year, [after a year spent on Zoom], coming to the festival for me is sort of a renewal of life,” she said. “When working with young people and helping them discover these great pieces of music for the first time, it’s easy for me to remember why I became a musician in the first place. It’s beautiful to be there with the students and to see them come into themselves over the course of the festival.”

Falletta said she began her lifelong relationship with music when she was very young, and this was all thanks to a gift she received for her seventh birthday.

“My father gave me a classical guitar, and that was a turning point in my life that I never realized. He had arranged for a lesson the next day, and that was the ship I set out on in terms of the voyage of learning theory, ear training and harmony. Since then, I never thought of myself as anything but a musician,” she said.

She added that, like the students at the festival, finding music is what helped her find herself.

“Many of our students come from schools where there isn’t as much of an emphasis on what they do. They are not the sports stars or interested in only academics. They spend most of their time in school feeling a little bit different, and they come to Sewanee where everyone feels exactly as they do. It’s an immense validation, a feeling of ‘I am okay now that I know that there are people like me. I can do this.’ That encouragement is so needed at this young age.”

After over a year apart, Falletta said that the community experience on the Mountain this summer was particularly significant.

“It’s very hard for any musician not to play with others for 18 months. You end up almost feeling like a withered plant. That is why this summer was especially joyous. You could feel the positive energy among the students — it was like we were all able to come to life again. When I got to Sewanee, it was as if all the time before was wiped away. We were able to make music together again. I think this would be my favorite summer of my life.”

The concert will feature the 2021 Sewanee Summer Music Festival Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition winners along with Festival artist-faculty. The event is at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 17, in Guerry Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.