Holiday Pops in the Heartland

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

Megan Koch, alumna of Illinois Wesleyan University, is an avid performer and teacher, currently based in Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). Last season, she made her role debuts as Violetta (La Traviata) and Berta (Il Barbiere Di Siviglia) at Shreveport Opera, and Nala, a cat (Meow and Forever) recorded for Opera Arlington and Really Spicy Opera. Formerly a Fort Worth Opera Resident Artist, she performed Annina in La Traviata, covered Ana Maria (world premiere, Zorro) and Musetta (La bohème), created her own indoor/outdoor production of “Manon on the Move”, based on the Massenet, and appeared on Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's televised concert, “America Strong”. Other operatic credits include appearances at the Olomouc Baroque Festival in the Czech Republic and Varna International in Bulgaria; Lucia di Lammermoor, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Vixen (Cunning Little Vixen), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Alexandra (Regina), Rose (Street Scene), and La princesse (L’enfant et les sortilèges). Megan won first place in the Classical Singer Voice Competition and was a finalist in the Lewisville Lake Symphony International Voice Competition in 2022. She has also performed with Lewisville Lake Symphony Chamber Recital Series and Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers, where she “shimmered with nuance” - The Column Online. She sits on the founding Board of Opera Arlington and returns to the Fort Worth Symphony to be featured in the 2023 “Home for the Holidays” concert. 

www.megankochsoprano.com