Taichi Fukumura is a rising Japanese-American conductor known for his dynamic stage presence, resulting in a growing international career. Acclaimed for his musical finesse and passionate interpretations, Fukumura is currently Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta and winner of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award 2021.
Recent and upcoming highlights this season include guest conducting debuts with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and La Orquesta Cámara de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Among 10 assistant conductor candidates selected by the Berlin Philharmonic, Fukumura conducted in the Siemens Conductors Scholarship Competition. Guest cover conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he regularly collaborates with the Chicago Philharmonic as cover conductor, and assisted the Chicago Sinfonietta and Music Director Mei-Ann Chen at the Ravinia Festival. In summer 2022, he will be a conducting fellow at the Aspen Conducting Academy with Robert Spano.
Past engagements include guest conducting on the Boston Symphony’s Community Chamber Concerts, leading members of the BSO in Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Equally at home in opera, he has led full productions of Britten’s Turn of the Screw and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Northwestern University Opera Theatre.
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 Doctoral and Masters degrees in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University, studying with Victor Yampolsky. Additional conducting studies include 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 Michael Jinbo.