The Road Ahead: Illinois Symphony Closes Season with a Route 66 World Premiere

A Commission Born Over Lunch

The story of Reverie on the Mother Road begins, appropriately enough, with a conversation. About a year ago, as Fukumura was mapping out the 2025–26 season, he found himself thinking about two converging anniversaries: the United States’ 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of Route 66. He had also recently reconnected with composer Michelle Isaac, a colleague from his days at the Chicago Sinfonietta, where he served as a conducting fellow and later assistant conductor and Isaac was the orchestra’s inaugural Freeman Composing Fellow.

“I had just moved back to Chicago from Fort Worth, and I was catching up gradually with some friends I knew in Chicago. When I was catching up with Michelle, I was like, wait a minute…”

The idea crystallized quickly. Isaac, known for her deep research process and a sensibility for music that is playful and poignant in equal measure, seemed a natural fit for a piece about the Mother Road. Over that lunch, the commission took shape almost immediately.

“Right during that lunch, we already started talking about what the piece might look like. It really took off really quickly from there.”

For Isaac, accepting the invitation was a straightforward decision — not only because of her affection for Fukumura’s musicianship, but because of the subject matter itself.

“[Fukumura’s] dedication to the music is just beyond anything. He’s so thorough and so musical. All of his suggestions are spot on. He really helps bring pieces to life.”

The commission marks a meaningful milestone: it is Fukumura’s first as Music Director of the Illinois Symphony, continuing a long institutional tradition of world premieres that stretches back decades.

The Mother Road, Re-imagined

Reverie on the Mother Road is a six-minute overture, but it contains multitudes. Isaac approached the piece the way she approaches all of her work — through extensive historical research and a genuine curiosity about what makes a subject tick at its core.

“We talked a lot about Route 66 as a connecting force. When Route 66 was in its heyday, towns were springing up around it because of the tourist traffic. So, it was really like this lifeline. It was this artery of America where things flourished.”

That sense of connection — of communities bound together by a shared road and a shared sense of possibility — became the emotional spine of the piece. Isaac identified three guiding themes: freedom, perseverance, and what she cheerfully describes as “good old-fashioned fun.” Together, they capture the adventuresome spirit of road-trip culture that Route 66 has embodied for a century.

Listeners might expect the usual orchestral textures of a concert overture, but Isaac had other ideas. Originally trained as a percussionist, she challenged herself to foreground the auxiliary and toy instruments that often spend entire symphonies counting rests at the back of the stage.

“I’ve spent so many hours of my life at the back of an ensemble counting rests as a percussionist. So, I like to give them a fun time.”

Temple blocks, wood blocks, xylophone, and tambourine play central roles, giving the piece a bright, percussive vitality that evokes the clatter and rhythm of the road itself. The brass section, meanwhile, simulates the sounds of passing cars — a wink at the automotive culture that Route 66 helped create.

Perhaps the most charming touch in the piece is a musical tribute to New Mexico’s famous Musical Highway, a stretch of Route 66 where rumble strips are precisely tuned to play America the Beautiful as cars drive over them. It’s a quirky, joyful piece of American ingenuity — and it was in danger of being forgotten.

“It’s over 10 years old now, it’s really fading. So, I wanted to preserve that. So, there are some fun effects in this piece.”

The premiere also coincides with Illinois’ Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor festival, part of a broader slate of spring and summer events celebrating the highway’s centennial year — making this not just a concert, but a genuine civic occasion.