Jake Taniguchi is the Assistant Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO)
and Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (RPYO). In the 2026–27
season, he will lead numerous programs with both ensembles, including community,
family, and education concerts, and will take the RPYO on an international tour to Vienna,
Salzburg, and Prague.
Taniguchi has served on the conducting faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, as
principal conductor of the Hawaiʻi Chamber Music Festival (HCMF), and as assistant and
cover conductor for the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Grant Park
Music Festival Orchestra, and the Indiana University Ballet and Opera Theater.
Equally at home on the concert stage and in the pit, he has conducted IU Opera and Ballet
Theater productions of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park and
assisted on IU’s co-production with the Metropolitan Opera of Mason Bates’ The Amazing
Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the work’s world premiere.
He has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Dane Lam,
Mei-Ann Chen, Jeffery Kahane, and Anthony Parnther, as well as soloists including
violinists Jaime Laredo, Jessica Lee, and Stefan Jackiw; pianists Michelle Cann, Joyce
Yang, Adam Golka, and David Kaplan; and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung. A fervent
advocate for new music, he has fostered artistic partnerships with composers Marcos
Balter, Sebastian Currier, Billy Childs, Keith Fitch, Christopher Cerrone, and Joan Tower,
among others.
Devoted to nurturing a lifelong enthusiasm for music, Taniguchi has worked with numerous
schools, youth organizations, and educational programs, including the Masaki School of
Music, Kamehameha Schools, Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts, Oshkosh Youth
Symphony Orchestra, and HCMF’s Young Artist Program.
Taniguchi holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Northwestern
University Bienen School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. His conducting
mentors include Arthur Fagen, Jeffery Meyer, Thomas Wilkins, Victor Yampolsky, and
JoAnn Falletta.
July 2026