The Illinois Symphony Orchestra is moving boldly toward lesser known works and composers in music director Taichi Fukumura’s inaugural season, for which soloists Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Aristo Sham and Anna Geniushene will be featured performers.
The season kick-off on Oct. 19 — with Kenneh-Mason playing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1912 Violin Concerto plus William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 — marks a sea change for the orchestra that underwent a two-year selection process leading to Fukumura’s appointment.
The season demonstrates a concerted uptick in selections from 20th century composers, living composers and composers of color, including Coleridge-Taylor, Zhou Tian, Yasushi Akutagawa, William Grant Still, Stacy Garrop and Brian Raphael Nabors.
In addition to the popular Holiday Pops in the Heartland on Dec. 14, a second pops concert on March 8 2025 will feature music from the Harry Potter films.
Fukumura succeeds Ken Lam, who led the orchestra for five seasons. Lam is currently director of orchestral studies at the Tianjin Juilliard School and resident conductor of the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra. He returns to the ISO podium on Feb. 8, 2025 as a guest conductor of works by Tian, Brahms and Liszt, the latter featuring Sham playing Piano Concerto No. 1.
Another familiar face, Lam's predecessor Alastair Willis, also makes a cameo appearance on Nov. 9. He will lead the orchestra in an all-French program with works by Franck, Debussy, Stravinsky, Poulenc and Ravel.
Full program details and season tickets will soon be available at ilsymphony.org.
