Festive Fanfare
Experience the fanfare of opening night through the lush cinematic melody of Walton's Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, the brilliance of Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto with dynamic violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason as Taichi Fukumura makes his debut as Music Director of your Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Dvořák's beautiful Eighth Symphony closes out this evening of LIVE music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Taichi Fukumura<\/strong>, Music Director","Braimah Kanneh-Mason<\/b>, Violin<\/font><\/p>\n\n
Walton <\/strong>Spitfire Prelude and Fugue<\/em> – Coleridge-Taylor<\/strong> Violin Concerto<\/em> – Dvo<\/strong>ř<\/strong>ák <\/strong>Symphony No. 8<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Join us one hour before the concert for a pre-concert discussion with violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Music Director Taichi Fukumura. And, join us after the concert for our Play On After Party to welcome Music Director Taichi Fukumura!<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Listen LIVE with us!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Tickets:<\/strong> $65 \/ $45 \/ $30
\nStudents (Age 24 & Under): <\/strong>$10<\/p>\n\n
Springfield<\/h5>\n\n
Friday, October 18, 2024 @ 7:30 PM<\/strong>
\nUIS Performing Arts Center
\nConcert Comments @ 6:30 PM<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Bloomington-Normal<\/h5>\n\n
Saturday, October 19, 2024 @ 7:30 PM<\/strong>
\nISU Center for the Performing Arts
\nConcert Comments @ 6:30 PM<\/em><\/p>"]
Taichi Fukumura is a rising Japanese-American conductor acclaimed for his dynamic stage presence and musical finesse. He is the Second Prize Winner of The Mahler Competition 2023 and a four-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award 2021-2024.
Fukumura was recently named Music Director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, following two guest conducting appearances as part of an extensive international search. He begins his role in the 2024-2025 season as the fifth music director in the orchestra’s history.
Other highlights include his guest conducting debut with the Bamberg Symphony, and his return to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor after leading the orchestra in over 110 concerts as Assistant Conductor appointed by Music Director Robert Spano. Fukumura is also Music Director Finalist of the Eugene Symphony, Delaware Symphony Orchestra and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and will guest conduct each during the 2024-2025 season. Additionally, he returned to the Aspen Music Festivaland School as guest assistant conductor for the opening week of summer 2024. Other guest assisting engagements include collaborations with Barbara Hannigan and the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland, as well as Dima Slobodeniouk and the Minnesota Orchestra.
Past engagements include guest conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky L’Histoire du Soldat. He was also invited by the Berlin Philharmonic as one of 10 assistant conductor candidates for Kirill Petrenko in 2021, and guest assisted the Houston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. 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. Additionally, he worked closely with the Chicago Philharmonic as cover conductor.
Equally adept in opera conducting, Fukumura conducted full productions of Britten Turn of the Screw and Mozart Don Giovanni at the Northwestern University Opera Theatre and led rehearsals of Puccini La Boheme with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, the only youth orchestra in the country to present annual opera productions.
Born in Tokyo, Taichi Fukumura grew up in Boston and began music studies at age three on the violin. Professionally trained on the instrument, he received a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Boston University, studying with Peter Zazofsky. Fukumura received both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University, studying with Victor Yampolsky. Additional conducting studies include Aspen Music Festival and Pierre Monteux School and Festival.
Braimah Kanneh-Mason is a dynamic and versatile young violinist. He has performed throughout the UK, Europe, USA and the Australia. Recently, Braimah has appeared as a soloist with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Braimah is a member of the Kanneh-Mason Piano Trio, Festival Academy Budapest Ensemble and Kaleidoscope Collective. He has performed at venues and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Melbourne Symphony Hall, Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, Leicester International Chamber Music Festival and collaborated with artists such as Nicola Benedetti, Tom Poster and Priya Mitchell.
Through playing and presenting Braimah has an episode in the BBC series, ‘In the Studio’, has co-presented a radio programme for Classic fm and recorded as a soloist for BBC Radio 3.
Braimah is a passionate advocate for equal opportunity and diversity in music education and is a Cultural Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda and a Junior Ambassador for Music in Secondary Schools Trust. He has been a mentor at Sistema England, Junior Music Works and a mentor for consecutive years for the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Orchestra.
Braimah is currently studying with Barnabás Kelemen and Eszter Perenyi at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he was a scholarship student with Mateja Marinkovic and Jack Liebeck, winning the Harold Craxton Prize, the John McAslan Prize and the Dame Ruth Railton Chamber Music Prize.
Braimah currently performs on a very fine Gagliano on loan through the Beare’s International Violin Society.
