Akiko Fujimoto is a Japanese-born American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. Since 2019 she has been the

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

of the Mid-Texas Symphony. She has held positions as associate conductor of the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Th ...

and the

San Antonio Symphony The San Antonio Symphony was a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. Its season ran from late September to early June. Sebastian Lang-Lessing, its music director from 2010 to 2020, was the last to ser ...

, conducting associate for the

Virginia Symphony Orchestra The Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is an American orchestra administratively based in Norfolk. The VSO performs concerts in various venues in Virginia, including: * Chrysler Hall, Norfolk * The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia ...

, and cover conductor for the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

, and has appeared as a guest conductor for the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The NSO regularly ...

Houston Symphony The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. History The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, 1 ...

North Carolina Symphony The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-six full-time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the Opera Co ...

Florida Orchestra The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the T ...

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra The Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The orchestra's primary concert venues are the Embassy Theatre and the Auer Performance Hall at Purdue University Fort Wayne. The orchestra's current ...

, Corpus Christi Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, and

Vermont Symphony Orchestra The Vermont Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a symphony orchestra based in, and supported in part by, the U.S. state of Vermont. It is a 501(c)(3) corporation. It is one of the few, and the oldest, state-supported symphony orchestras in the United St ...

. Fujimoto became the first woman to hold a full-time conducting position on the artistic staff of the

when she was hired as its assistant conductor in 2011. In 2017, she became the second woman to conduct the Minnesota Orchestra. In 2019, Fujimoto became the first woman conductor for the Mid-Texas Symphony.

Personal life

Fujimoto was born in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. When she was 14, she moved with her parents to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

because her father was relocated by the company he worked for.

Education

Fujimoto earned a

Bachelors of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. She later went on to earn her

Master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in choral and orchestral

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

from

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

in 1999 and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 2001.

Career

Fujimoto worked under

JoAnn Falletta JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954, in Queens, New York) is an American conductor. Biography Falletta was raised in the borough of Queens in an Italian-American household. She was educated at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard Sch ...

when Falletta was the music director for the

. From 2012 to 2017, Fujimoto was the associate conductor of the San Antonio Symphony and its first woman conductor. She worked for the Minnesota Orchestra as an associate conductor from 2017 to 2020. On September 15, 2019, Fujimoto had her first public concert with the Mid-Texas Symphony at

Texas Lutheran University Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a private Evangelical Lutheran university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891 with the foundation of an academy, named Evangelical Lutheran College, by the first German Eva ...

in Seguin as a guest conductor. In October 2019, she was hired to be the Mid-Texas Symphony as their next music director, a position she still holds as of 2024. In 2021, Fujimoto was one of seven candidates who applied to lead Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She was a guest conductor on October 30, 2021, where she closed the Vermont Symphony Orchestra program with

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 and

Suad Bushnaq Suad Lakišić Bushnaq is a Jordanian-Canadian film and concert composer. She is best known for her work on Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough, Yunan, Flight 404, Hobal, Hanging Gardens, '' Crashing Eid'', Hotel Beyrouth, ''Al Munataf ...

’s “Sampson’s Walk on Air.”

References

External links

*Akiko Fujimoto'
personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujimoto, Akiko Year of birth missing (living people) Music directors Japanese women conductors (music) 21st-century Japanese conductors (music) Stanford University alumni Eastman School of Music alumni Boston University alumni Living people