Fabulous "Finnish"

Taichi Fukumura is the Music Director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (ISO) and the current Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra appointed by Franz Welser-Möst. A rising Japanese American conductor acclaimed for his dynamic stage presence and musical finesse, Fukumura is the Second Prize Winner of The Mahler Competition 2023, and a four-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award.

Recent and upcoming international engagements include guest conducting debuts with the Bamberg Symphony and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. Fukumura will lead concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra this season as part of his new position, including a collaboration with Itzhak Perlman on tour in Miami. He also returned to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor, where he previously conducted over 110 concerts as an Assistant Conductor appointed by Robert Spano. Other recent guest debuts include the Utah Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, Delaware Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

As the Music Director of the Illinois Symphony, Fukumura has led an ongoing initiative to broaden the repertoire of the orchestra. Focusing on well-balanced, impactful programming, he has highlighted the work of living composers including Brian Raphael Nabors, Christopher Theofanidis, Stacy Garrop, and Gala Flagello. The 2025/26 season includes the world premiere of a new work by Michelle Isaac, commissioned by the ISO.

Fukumura served as the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta where he previously received mentorship from Music Director Mei-Ann Chen as a Freeman Conducting Fellow. He also returned to the Aspen Music Festival as guest assistant conductor following a summer as a conducting fellow and was invited by Barbara Hannigan to assist at the Munich Philharmonic and the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland.

Born in Tokyo, Taichi Fukumura spent his childhood in Boston and began music studies at age three on the violin. He holds a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Boston University, and both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Victor Yampolsky. He is a recipient of the Concert Artists Guild Richard S. Weinert Award. Fukumura is fluent in both English and Japanese.

A Gilmore Young Artist and winner of Salon de Virtuosi, Janice Carissa has “the multicolored highlights of a mature pianist” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “strong, sure hands” (Voice of America) that “convey a vivid story rather than a mere showpiece” (Chicago Classical Review). Her artistry has been showcased at an array of renowned stages, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, the Kennedy Center, Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Following her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age sixteen, Janice has since performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego, Nashville, Kansas City, Amarillo, Des Moines and Jakarta symphonies among others. Highlights of the 2024-2025 season include concerto performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Osmo Vanska, the Erie Philharmonic, the Boise Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville Symphony and recital debuts with Washington Performing Arts, and the Salon Piano Series of Wisconsin where she will give the world premiere performance of a new work by fellow Indonesian composer Eunike Tanzil.

Janice’s passion for chamber music has led her to performances with Bravo! Vail where she was a piano fellow, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society and Jupiter Chamber Concert Series; collaborations with Vadim Gluzman, Miriam Fried, Paul Neuebauer, Lucy Shelton, Marcy Rosen, David Shifrin, Jennifer Cano, Peter Wiley, among other distinguished musicians; and appearances at Marlboro, North Shore, Ravinia, Caramoor, and Kneisel Hall festivals.

Born on July 26, 1998, in Indonesia, Janice left Indonesia 2013 to enter the Curtis Institute of Music with a full scholarship from Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, where she was a pupil of Gary Graffman. She went on to earn a Master of Music at The Juilliard School where she studied with Robert McDonald. When away from the piano, Janice is an avid foodie and loves going on strolls with her camera. 
 

Michelle Isaac is a Chicago-based composer and orchestrator known for her playful and poignant works for the concert hall, stage, and screen. A Chicago DCASE grant winner, Chicago Sinfonietta’s inaugural Freeman Composing Fellow, and the inaugural winner of the Miriam Mayer Perspective Composer Grant for new voices in film scoring, Isaac creates deeply nuanced, narrative-driven music that is delectably intricate and sweepingly cinematic, often employing elements of humor and historical research.

Isaac’s 2025-26 concert season features four world premieres, including commissions from the Reno Philharmonic led by Music Director Laura Jackson, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra led by Taichi Fukumura, the Crystal Lake Community Band directed by Terry Grossberg, and a collaborative piece for young band. Isaac’s music has reached audiences globally, with notable performances by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta at Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Symphony Center, and Auditorium Theatre, Paradox Opera, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Percussion Ensemble, and the Knox-Galesburg Symphony. Isaac has held faculty and guest lecturer positions with Roosevelt University, The People’s Music School, OPUS Chamber Music Camp, Chicago Area Music Teachers Composition Festival, Pianos in the Park, and she enjoys an ongoing residency with Woodridge (IL) School District 68.

A native of Waukegan, IL, Isaac is an accomplished percussionist and pianist, getting her musical start in the Waukegan Public School system. She earned her Master of Music in Composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she studied with Stacy Garrop and Kyong Mee Choi, and her Bachelor of Arts in Music from the College of Saint Benedict.