Crazy for Gershwin

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.

In an age when many artists' fortunes begin with a meteoric ascent and quickly cool with the inexorable free-fall, pianist Jeffrey Biegel has managed to buck that trend, fashioning a career of steady success studded with concerts at major venues with major orchestras, a Grammy winning recording, and more than 30 commissioned works by living composers. Perhaps the grandest of all is his creation of the Rhapsody Historic Initiative, the largest consortium of orchestras in the history of music for a new work, Peter Boyer's "Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue". Exclusive to member orchestras from June 2023 through August 2028, this is the first 50-state project for a new work for soloist and orchestra, and, the first 50-state project for a new work without composer fees required from orchestras. The "Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue" has embraced America, with a recording featuring Mr. Biegel and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Naxos label, Mr. Boyer conducting.

His life takes its roots from age three, barely able to hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon explains his lifelong commitment to music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. 2026 featured the World Premiere of Daniel Perttu's Piano Concerto no. 3 titled, "...to the American Dream" with veteran Music Director Stephen Gunzenhauser and the Endless Mountain Music Festival. 2025 saw the World Premiere of three new works for piano and orchestra: Adolphus Hailstork's "Concerto no. 3" with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Melissa Manchester's "AWAKE!" for Piano and Orchestra with the Endless Mountain Music Festival, and, James Lee III's "Concerto in A" with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. The 2024 recording of Jake Runestad's "Dreams of the Fallen" with True Concord Voices and Orchestra garnered a Best Choral Performance Grammy nomination, on the Reference Recordings label. June 2023-August 2028 features the Rhapsody National Initiative - the first 50-state project for a new work for soloist and orchestra, also the first 50-state project for a new work without composer fees required from orchestras. Peter Boyer's "Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue" has embraced the nation and boasts a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra on the Naxos label. In 2022, he premiered Jim Stephenson's 'Piano Concerto', Daniel Perttu's 'A Planets Odyssey' for piano and orchestra, Farhad Poupel's "The Legend of Bijan and Manijeh" for piano, orchestra and chorus, his own concerto, 'Three Reflections: Freedom (JFK), Justice (RBG) Equality (MLK)', and Christopher Marshall's 'Thanksgiving Variations on "We Gather Together"'. 2021 saw the world premieres of his "Reflection of Justice: An Ode to Ruth Bader Ginsburg" with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's "Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg" for mezzo-soprano, piano and orchestra in tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Also, the world premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's "Shadows" newly arranged for piano and seven players with the Idaho State Civic Symphony. The pandemic year 2020 focused on composing original "Waltzes of Hope", "Sonatina", and "Three Reflections: JFK, RBG and MLK" for solo piano, and for piano and orchestra, orchestrations by Harrison Sheckler. It was also a time for Mr. Biegel to raise the monetary funds to commission Mr. Boyer's new "Rhapsody".

Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Mr. Biegel in 2015, for his achievements in performance, recordings, chamber music, champion of new music, composer, arranger and educator. In 2019, Kenneth Fuchs's "Piano Concerto: 'Spiritualist'" with the London Symphony Orchestra led by JoAnn Falletta received a Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium, featuring Mr. Biegel as its soloist. In 2019, the first digital recordings were released on Mr. Biegel's Naturally Sharp label: "Cyberecital: An Historic Recording", "A Pianist's Journey", and the September 2021 release of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" 1924 version with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Bruce Kiesling conducting.

Mr. Biegel created the first largest consortium of orchestras in 1998 for Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 'Millennium Fantasy' premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2000, followed with Charles Strouse's 'Concerto America' with the Boston Pops, Lowell Liebermann's 'Concerto no. 3' with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, William Bolcom's 'Prometheus' for piano, orchestra and chorus, with the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale, Richard Danielpour's 'Mirrors' with the Pacific Symphony, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 'Shadows' with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Jake Runestad's 'Dreams of the Fallen' with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, Lucas Richman's 'Piano Concerto: In Truth' with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, recorded with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Kenneth Fuchs's "Piano Concerto: 'Spiritualist'" with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MA). He also premiered and recorded Giovanni Allevi's 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra' and commissioned Christopher Theofanidis's "Concerto no. 2 for Piano and Orchestra" with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the "Peanuts Concerto" by Dick Tunney, based on music by Vince Guaraldi, Jimmy Webb's 'Nocturne for Piano and Orchestra' and, PDQ Bach's 'Concerto for Simply Grand Piano and Orchestra' by Peter Schickele with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Bringing new music to youth orchestras saw the world premiere of Daniel Dorff's 'Piano Concerto' with the Etowah Youth Orchestra, conducted by Michael Gagliardo.

He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel, and is currently on faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 900 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the United States and abroad. He has conducted recordings of his music with three of the world’s finest orchestras: the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, all for the Naxos label. His Grammy-nominated major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, for actors and orchestra, has received more than 300 performances, and was nationally televised with the Pacific Symphony on PBS’ Great Performances. Boyer has received commissions from prestigious American institutions and ensembles, including the Kennedy Center for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the Cincinnati Pops, the Pacific Symphony, and the United States Marine Band, which premiered his Fanfare for Tomorrow at the inauguration of President Biden. Other orchestras which have performed Boyer’s music include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Nashville Symphony. In 2023, his work Today We Ask, commissioned by London’s ORA Singers to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, was premiered at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and broadcast by Classic FM. Boyer is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.