Our Conductor
Kimo Furumoto
Kimo Furumoto, widely known for his innovative concert programming, has been named Conductor and Music Director of the Rio Hondo Symphony beginning with the upcoming 77th season.
Furumoto is the conductor and music director of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia. During the last nine years under his baton, the orchestra has enjoyed record attendance. Furumoto also serves as Associate Professor at California State University, Fullerton where he is music director of the university’s orchestra and opera theater.During his career Furumoto has served as assistant conductor of the Lyric Mountain Festival for the Performing Arts and of the Lexington Philharmonic. Guest conductor appearances include numerous regional orchestras, including the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony and River Cities Symphony. He made his international conducting debut with the Kurpfalzisches Kammerorchester of Mannheim, Germany.
Previously Furumoto served as orchestra director on the faculties of Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His numerous appearances include conducting a concert at the critically acclaimed Mass-in-Concert series at New York’s Lincoln Concert for the Performing Arts.
After interning as conducting assistant with the Cincinnati Symphony in 1988, Furumoto returned as guest assistant conductor. He has also served as associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra with Keith Lockhart.
He holds conducting degrees from Chapman University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
The enclosed audio file of Kimo Furumoto's preview was recorded on Friday Morning, October 2, 2009.
Kimo Furumoto's Beethoven Project
The Beethoven Project will take the orchestra's audience on a journey of discovery into the heart and mind of Beethoven, one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.
Each season the orchestra will present a symphony by Beethoven as an episode in the life of this monumental composer who altered the course of music forever. Nearly 200 years later his music still astounds and inspires everyone.
At the "New Horizons" concert October 4, 2009, the orchestra performed The Beethoven Project: Episode I: "The Early Years - Imitator or Innovator?"