A Night in Monte Carlo

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.

Jacobsen Woollen is a conductor, cellist, and tenor residing in Springfield, Illinois, where he serves as Resident Conductor of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Conductor of the Illinois Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director of the Springfield Choral Society, and Conductor of the UIS Orchestra.

Jacobsen is also active in the opera world, having served as Assistant Conductor at Atlanta Opera, Detroit Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where he led several workshops for new works, including Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones.

An Indiana native, Jacobsen returned to the Midwest after spending six years in Vienna, Austria, where he completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in orchestral conducting under the tutelage of Prof. Mark Stringer at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, conducted professional ensembles including the Polska Filharmonia Baltycka and Ensemble Ultreia, served as assistant conductor of the Vienna Opera Festival, and led the Schlosschor Hadersfeld.

Jacobsen also maintains an active career as a tenor: as a member of the Grammy-winning Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Jacobsen participated in opera productions at Theater an der Wien, as well as concerts in Europe’s most renowned venues, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Prior to his European sojourn, Jacobsen completed a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan under the guidance of Kenneth Kiesler. During this time, he was active in the Ann Arbor musical community as well, serving as founder and director of Paradigm Shift Chamber Orchestra, music director of the Ann Arbor Camerata, and assistant conductor of the Michigan Life Sciences Orchestra.

As a cellist, Jacobsen was a student of Susan Moses in the Indiana University String Academy and later completed a Bachelor’s Degree with Richard Aaron at the University of Michigan. He has appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Musical Arts Youth Orchestra, and Voces Novae Chamber Choir. As a chamber musician, he has had the pleasure of collaborating with Joshua Bell, Jaime Laredo, Soovin Kim, and many others. From 2013-16, Jacobsen was cellist and artistic curator with the new-music sextet Latitude 49, and he continues to serve on their Board of Directors.