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NCO Artistic Director, Valerian Ruminski sits down with JoAnn Falletta, Conductor and Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Our Man in Honolulu
Published on January 5, 2010
Author:  Mary Kunz Goldman
© The Buffalo News Inc.

JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, recently conducted a free performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Hawaii with the Honolulu Symphony. Falletta is artistic adviser to the Honolulu Symphony. The concert was the orchestra's thank you to the people who had supported it through the years. The orchestra has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has canceled the remainder of its concerts for the season. Falletta's Beethoven's Ninth, performed Dec. 27, had an additional Buffalo connection. The singer scheduled to sing the baritone part had to back out because of a scheduling conflict. So Valerian Ruminski, the opera singer from our town, took his place. That is Ruminski pictured above, last summer when his Nickel City Opera staged "The Barber of Seville" at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda. Falletta learned Ruminski was coming to Hawaii to perform in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," which is what gave her the idea to ask him to sing the Beethoven. In case anyone from Buffalo is fleeing our winter for the warm breezes of Hawaii, Ruminski is singing the part of Don Bartolo in "The Marriage of Figaro" for the Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT). Performances are Jan. 29, Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. Ruminski was overjoyed to sing the Ninth. When the concert was over, he and Falletta found time to have lunch. "We sat down amidst the blue sky, sun and palm trees and talked about possible projects to be shared by the BPO and Nickel City Opera in the coming year," he told The News in an e-mail. He added: "What those projects are can only be guessed at."