Solti Foundation Awards Conductors Career Assistance Prizes

15 young American conductors will continue their success with this prestigious award

The first recipient of the award goes to Nathaniel Efthimiou, who is the Founder and Music Director of Orchestra Contempo, the Assistant Conductor of the Boston Civic Symphony, the Assistant Director of Music at Boston’s Historic Park Street Church, and the acting Assistant Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

Kevin Fitzgerald is the Assistant Conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra. He founded the Michigan-based contemporary music ensemble ÆPEX Contemporary Performance as well.

Taichi Fukumura is the newly appointed Fellow and Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Summer Opera for 2021, director of orchestras for the Merit School of Music, and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Northwestern Medical Orchestra.

Lina Gonzalez-Granados is the Solti Conducting Apprentice. Along with this, she appears as a Conducting Fellow with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony.

Other recipients include Keitaro Harada, the Music and Artistic Director of the Savannah Philharmonic and Associate Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony; Roger Kalia, the Music Director of the Evansville Philharmonic, Symphony NH, Orchestra Santa Monica, and the Lake George Music Festival; Jonathon Heyward, the Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie; Earl Lee, the Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Lee Mills, the Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony; Vinay Parameswaran, the Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Music Director of the Cleveland Youth Orchestra; Michael Repper, the Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony and Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia; and finally, Lidiya Yankovskaya, the Music Director of the Chicago Opera Theater.

Other recipients include the international guest conductors Stefano Sarzani, Roberto Kalb, and Kensho Watanabe.