Festive Fanfare
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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 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.