Passion & Pulse
- Date May 2nd, 2025 Time 7:30pm Venue UIS Performing Arts Center - Springfield
Be moved by the power of our Symphony Orchestra concerts!
Taichi Fukumura, Music Director | Anna Geniushene, Piano
Nabors Pulse – Ravel Piano Concerto in G – Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Join us one hour before the concert for a pre-concert discussion with pianist Anna Geniushene and Music Director Taichi Fukumura. And, join us after the concert for our Play On After Party!
Listen LIVE with us!
Tickets: $65 / $45 / $30
Students (Age 24 & Under): $10
Springfield
Friday, May 2, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
UIS Performing Arts Center
Concert Comments @ 6:30 PM
Bloomington-Normal
Saturday, May 3, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
ISU Center for the Performing Arts
Concert Comments @ 6:30 PM
Support Provided By:
Debra & Daniel Brownstone, M.D., The Landmark Automotive Group, Carolyn Yockey, Terry Huff, Barbara & Charles Schweighauser
Springfield Venue UIS Performing Arts Center - Springfield
1 University Plz #397, Springfield, IL 62703
Your Illinois Symphony Orchestra performs Symphony Orchestra and Pops concerts at the UIS Performing Arts Center in Sangamon Auditorium.
Physical Address:
220 Ernest Hemingway Dr | Springfield, IL 62703
Mailing Address:
1 University Plaza, MS PAC 292 | Springfield, IL 62703
UIS Ticket Office Information
Tickets for all Illinois Symphony Orchestra season concerts are sold through the UIS Ticket Office. Tickets may be purchased by in-person, by phone, or online.
- In-Person: UIS Ticket Office is located in the lobby of the Public Affairs Center Building on the UIS Campus.
- Phone: (217) 206-6160
- Online: uispac.com
UIS Ticket Office Hours
Monday through Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Performance Days: Opens Two Hours Prior to Performance
UIS Performing Arts Center Event Parking
Free parking is NOW available for all events held at UIS Performing Arts Center. Click here to view a map of the parking lots closest to the UIS Performing Arts Center. There will be no premium parking for donors who give $1,000 or more to the Illinois Symphony Orchestra due to UIS offering FREE parking to events held at the UIS Performing Arts Center.
Featured:
Taichi Fukumura Music Director - Music Director
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 extensive international search. He begins his role in the 2024-2025 season as the fifth music director in the orchestra’s history.
Other highlights include his guest conducting debut with the Bamberg Symphony, and his return 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 Orchestra and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and will guest conduct each during the 2024-2025 season. Additionally, he returned to the Aspen Music Festival and School as guest assistant conductor for the opening week of summer 2024. Other guest assisting engagements include collaborations with Barbara Hannigan and the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland, as well as Dima Slobodeniouk and the Minnesota Orchestra.
Past engagements include guest conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky L’Histoire du Soldat. He was also invited by the Berlin Philharmonic as one of 10 assistant conductor candidates for Kirill Petrenko in 2021, and guest assisted the Houston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. 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.
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 and led rehearsals of Puccini La Boheme with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, the only youth orchestra in the country to present annual opera productions.
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 Aspen Music Festival and Pierre Monteux School and Festival.
Anna Geniushene Piano
Anna Geniushene’s fresh, layered, and powerful interpretations defined her participation at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—and won her the coveted silver medal and the adoration of fans around the globe. And the critics couldn’t get enough: “powerhouse sound, forceful musical personality, and sheer virtuosity…had this critic on the edge of his seat” (Musical America); “a performance of rare devotion and insight” (Onstage NTX); “a fresh version…that had this listener hanging on every bar” (La Scena).
Accolades ensued—Musical America named her Young Artist of the Month in July 2022 and Pianist magazine featured her on the cover in June 2023—and invitations from well- respected institutions followed. Recent and upcoming engagements include an Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut with Nathalie Stutzmann, re-invitations from the Taipei Symphony Orchestra with Eliahu Inbal and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra with Juraj Valčuha, and a tour with the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic; debut recitals for Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Centre, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the Chopin and his Europe and Bravo! Vail Music Festivals; and concerts at Tonhalle Zurich and Stadtcasino Basel, replacing Daniel Barenboim in recital. Anna’s newest album—a deeply personal project of lullabies spanning from John Field and Liszt to Dutilleux and Weinberg—was released in 2023, and a duo disc with her husband and frequent collaborator, pianist Lukas Geniušas, will be released in 2024 on the Alpha label. She joins the roster of the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for 2024–2027.
Born in Moscow on New Year’s Day in 1991, Anna made her recital debut just seven years later in the small hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. She has since developed a diverse and versatile career as an artist: performances in major venues throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia; appearances with famed conductors, including Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner, Nicholas McGegan, Arvo Volmer, Gintaras Rinkevičius, and Valentin Uryupin; and a dedication to chamber music, including close collaborations with Quartetto di Cremona and in duo piano repertoire with Lukas Geniušas. Anna’s debut recording, featuring works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, was released on LINN Records in March 2020. A laureate of major international piano contests, she previously had strong finishes at the Leeds (laureate and finalist), Tchaikovsky (semifinalist), and Busoni (third prize) Competitions.
Anna Geniushene graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2015, where she studied with Professor Elena Kuznetsova, and completed her Master’s with Distinction and Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music (London) in 2018 under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus Christopher Elton. Also an enthusiastic teacher, she actively teaches masterclasses and adjudicates competitions, and served as assistant professor at the Moscow Conservatory until 2022. She currently resides in Berlin with her husband and their two young sons.
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