- Biography
Taichi FUKUMURA
Taichi Fukumura is a rising Japanese-American conductor known for his dynamic stage presence and musical finesse. Currently serving as the Assistant Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra appointed by Music Director Robert Spano, he is a two-time recipient of the Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award in 2021 and 2022.
Recent and upcoming highlights include conducting Hong Kong Sinfonietta at the 2nd Hong Kong International Conducting Competition, and the Bamberg Symphony at the Mahler Competition 2023. In the 2021/2022 season, he was shortlisted by the Berlin Philharmonic as one of 10 Assistant Conductor candidates for Kirill Petrenko, and made his début with the Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. He previously served as Assistant Conductor and a Freeman Conducting Fellow of the Chicago Sinfonietta, appointed by Music Director Chen Mei-ann, and guest assisted the Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Chicago Philharmonic.
Past engagements include guest conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in their Community Chamber Concert series, leading Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Equally adept in opera conducting, Fukumura conducted full productions of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Northwestern University Opera Theatre, and led rehearsals of Puccini’s La Bohème with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, the only youth orchestra in the country to present annual opera productions.
Born in Tokyo, 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. He received both his Doctoral and Master’s degrees in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University, studying with Victor Yampolsky. Additional conducting studies took place at the Aspen Music Festival and the Monteux School and Music Festival.