Fire & Fanfare

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 international search. He begins his role in the 24/25 season as the fifth music director in the orchestra’s history.

Other 24/25 highlights include guest conducting debut with the Bamberg Symphony, and returning 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, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and will guest conduct each during the 24/25 season. Additionally, he will return to the Aspen Music Festival as guest assistant conductor for the opening week of summer 2024.

Past engagements include guest conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in their Community Chamber Concert series, leading Stravinsky L’Histoire du Soldat. He made his international guest conducting debut with the Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and guest assisted the Houston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He was also invited by the Berlin Philharmonic as one of 10 assistant conductor candidates for Kirill Petrenko and the Siemens Conductors Scholarship in 2021. Active as both conductor and assistant, Fukumura has worked with esteemed artists such as Edo de Waart, Juraj Valčuha, and Dame Jane Glover, as well as Thomas Hampson, Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gil Shaham.

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, assisting Artistic Director Scott Speck and many guest artists.

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. As Staff Conductor at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (the only youth orchestra in the country to present annual opera productions), he led rehearsals of many monumental works including Puccini La Boheme.

Fiercely advocating to bring people together around the spirit of live music, Fukumura led many new initiatives with the Fort Worth Symphony including the first major update in their education and community programs in over a decade. An avid educator, he has previously served as Director of Orchestras at the Merit School of Music in Chicago and directed the endowed Northwestern Medical Orchestra to national acclaim within their first four years. Fukumura was appointed by the Mayor to the Evanston Arts Council for his cultural leadership and fresh perspectives, where he collaborated with local artists and arts organizations to enrich lives and amplify previously unheard voices.

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 the Aspen Music Festival Conducting Fellowship with Robert Spano, the Freeman Conducting Fellowship with Mei-Ann Chen and the Chicago Sinfonietta, mentorship in Paris with Pierre-Michel Durand and l’Orchestre Prométhée, the Hong Kong International Conducting Workshops with Jorma Panula, Christoph Poppen, and Yip Wing-sie, and the Pierre Monteux School and Festival with the late Michael Jinbo. Taichi Fukumura is fluent in English and Japanese.

                                                            Updated May 30, 2024

Taichifukumura.com

Brannon Cho is the First Prize winner of the prestigious 6th International Paulo Cello Competition, and is also a top prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth, Naumburg, and Cassadó International Cello Competitions.

Most recently, Brannon is the recipient of the 2020 Janos Starker Foundation Award, the Landgraf von Hessen Prize from Kronberg Academy, the 2019 Ivan Galamian Award previously held by James Ehnes, and is a scholarship holder in the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Cho has appeared as a soloist with many of the top orchestras around the world, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Belgian National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Brussels Philharmonic.

Born in New Jersey, Brannon received his Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music under Hans Jørgen Jensen. He was awarded the Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser. He also completed the Professional Studies program at the Kronberg Academy, under the tutelage of Frans Helmerson. Brannon performs on a rare cello made by Antonio Casini in 1668 in Modena, Italy, and is sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld.

Brannoncho.com