The Cleveland Orchestra announces artistic appointments for 2025–26 season
CLEVELAND— The Cleveland Orchestra is excited to announce the addition of three new members to its artistic and creative team, continuing the Orchestra’s commitment to innovation, community engagement, and musical excellence.
Beginning with the 2025–26 season, Taichi Fukumura joins as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, James Feddeck as principal conductor and musical advisor of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, and Tyler Taylor as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow.
Fukumura brings a wealth of experience from his recent role as assistant conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and his current post as music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. With The Cleveland Orchestra, Fukumura will support Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and other distinguished guest conductors by serving as cover conductor, in addition to leading various family, education, and community concerts throughout the season.
“I am tremendously honored to join The Cleveland Orchestra as the new assistant conductor. It is truly inspiring to be part of a team that approaches music-making with such care, passion, and purpose. I am thrilled to work with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and the incredible musicians and staff, and cannot wait to share exceptional musical experiences with our audiences both in Cleveland and internationally,” Fukumura said.
Feddeck, a familiar presence in Cleveland’s musical community, returns to lead The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Feddeck previously served as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of COYO from 2009 to 2013, leading the ensemble on its first international tour. He maintains a vibrant career with appearances across North America, Europe, and Asia. Over the next two seasons, Feddeck will provide artistic guidance to COYO, and lead several programs with The Cleveland Orchestra.
“I was delighted to be asked to return to The Cleveland Orchestra’s artistic team and to offer a meaningful vision of support. I am excited for the work that lies ahead and am grateful for the opportunity to share musical experiences in this new role at the organization,” Feddeck said.
Taylor joins The Cleveland Orchestra as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow for a term of three years, beginning with performances of his orchestral work Permissions conducted by Welser-Möst on October 30, November 1, and November 2.
“For years, I have listened to The Cleveland Orchestra’s recordings of some of the greatest orchestral works — these have undeniably shaped who I am as a composer. It will be a tremendous pleasure to witness the artistry they will bring to my music, and to share our work with the communities of Cleveland,” Taylor said.
Taylor takes over from outgoing Composer Fellow Allison Loggins-Hull, whose residency concludes this May with the world premiere of Grit. Grace. Glory. Over the next three seasons, Taylor will work closely with both The Cleveland Orchestra and COYO. His first year includes leading a composition workshop for COYO members, culminating in performances of the students’ chamber works. In the 2026–27 season, Taylor will compose a new orchestral work for The Cleveland Orchestra, and in his final season, he will return to his work with COYO with another new commission tailored for the youth ensemble.
Photos are available for download here.
About Taichi Fukumura
Taichi Fukumura is the music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the newly appointed Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. A rising Japanese American conductor acclaimed for his dynamic stage presence and musical finesse, Fukumura is the second prize winner of The Mahler Competition 2023 and a four-time recipient of the Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award 2021–2024.
Recent and upcoming highlights include guest conducting debuts with the Bamberg Symphony, Utah Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Delaware Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic. He also returned to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor after leading the orchestra in over 110 concerts as assistant conductor under music director Robert Spano.
Other notable appearances include guest conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in their Community Chamber Concert series, leading Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat. Fukumura was invited by the Berlin Philharmonic as one of 10 assistant conductor candidates for Kirill Petrenko and the Siemens Conductors Scholarship in 2021. He also served as assistant conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta, where he previously received mentorship from music director Mei-Ann Chen as a Freeman Conducting Fellow.
Engagements as cover conductor include the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, a return to the Aspen Music Festival and School as guest assistant conductor, and assisting Barbara Hannigan at the Munich Philharmonic and the Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Born in Tokyo, Fukumura grew up in Boston and began music studies at age 3 on the violin. He holds a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Boston University, where he studied with Peter Zazofsky, and both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Victor Yampolsky. Additional training includes the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Pierre Monteux School and Festival.
About James Feddeck
James Feddeck is an orchestral conductor whose musicianship is recognized worldwide. Until last season, he was principal conductor of Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, where he conducted symphonic concerts and operatic productions at the orchestra’s home in Milan and throughout Italy.
He has appeared with leading European orchestras including the Vienna Radio Symphony, the national orchestras of France, Belgium, Ireland, and Scotland, leading UK orchestras (BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Hallé, and Bournemouth), and the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bologna, Hamburg, Helsinki, Lille, Lyon, RAI Torino, Staatskapelle Weimar, Stockholm, Tenerife, The Hague, Verona, and Warsaw. Elsewhere in the world, Feddeck has conducted the Auckland Philharmonia, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic, Taipei Philharmonic, and Tasmania Symphony Orchestra. In North America he has appeared with the major symphony orchestras, including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto.
Feddeck is highly regarded for both his commitment to leading composers of our time and for his insightful interpretations of major orchestral works. His discography includes the works of Georg Schumann for CPO with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the music of Dane Rudhyar and Terry Riley recorded with the Calder Quartet and The Cleveland Orchestra, released in 2022.
Feddeck first conducted The Cleveland Orchestra as a guest conductor at Blossom in 2009 and subsequently served as Assistant Conductor from 2009–2013, leading The Cleveland Orchestra in performances throughout Northeast Ohio and in subscription concerts at Severance Music Center and Blossom. Under his leadership as Music Director, The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra performed its first international tour of Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague in 2012 and established an endowment for future touring and artistic projects. He is passionate about fostering the next generation of musicians and has nurtured the musical interests of young people at music festivals and orchestral training programs throughout the nation (including the Aspen Music Festival and School, San Francisco Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, and Cleveland Institute of Music).
Feddeck is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied in four programs: oboe, organ, piano, and conducting. He received the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award from the Solti Foundation US, as well as the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Oberlin.
About Tyler Taylor
Tyler Taylor (b. 1992) is a composer-performer and teaching artist from Louisville, Kentucky. Described as possessing a “mastery of tone and timbre” (Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser) and as “original in concept and realization” (Edwin Outwater), his work explores creating abstract musical analogies for social-political happenings both present and past. Common among these pieces is a sense of contradiction — sometimes whimsical, sometimes alarming — that comes from the interaction of diverse musical layers.
Taylor’s recent honors include The Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellowship (2025–28), the San Francisco Symphony’s Michael Morgan Prize (2024), the Copland House Residency Award (2023), an I-Park Foundation Residency (2023), and the Louisville Orchestra’s Creator Corps Residency (2022–23).
As a music educator and teaching artist, he founded and teaches the Louisville Orchestra’s Young Composer Program, where students from Jefferson County Public Schools have their pieces workshopped and performed by members of the Louisville Orchestra. The program has featured over 60 premieres in its first three years.
He also teaches composition and horn at the Louisville Academy of Music while maintaining a private studio of horn students.
He has been commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Davis Hale, Adam Sadberry, Jon P. Cherry, the Louisville Orchestra, Washington and Lee State University, the Youth Performing Arts School, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, the Indiana Bandmasters Association, the National Orchestral Institute, and more. His work has also been recognized by awards including the New Music USA Creator Fund (2024), the BMI Student Composer Award (2019), and the Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize (2017, 2016)
Taylor holds degrees from Indiana University (Doctor of Music with minors in music theory & horn performance), the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music), and the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music).
# # #
Media Contact:
Jen Steer, jsteer@clevelandorchestra.com, 216-231-7637
