Luca Antonucci is a rising conductor noted for his dynamism, entrepreneurial spirit, and commitment to community service.
Equally at home in front of a chorus, orchestra, and in the opera pit, he is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan, where he studies with Kenneth Kiesler.
At Michigan, Luca is a fixture with all six orchestras on campus. This year, he is the Music Director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra and the Michigan Life Sciences Orchestra and the Conductor of the Campus Symphony Orchestra, as well as Assistant Conductor for the University Symphony and University Philharmonia Orchestras. He has served as cover conductor for the Portland Symphony Orchestra and was recently invited to be a cover conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and has assisted or collaborated with such artists as Chen Yi, Wynton Marsalis, Gilles Apap, and Solomiya Ivakhiv.
In Boston, Luca is the founder and conductor of the Orchestra Without Borders and the Boston Summer Singers, ensembles dedicated to social action through music.
A native of Watertown, MA, Luca is a graduate of Amherst College and the Hartt School of Music, where he earned an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting as a student of Edward Cumming and Glen Adsit. He is the son of renowned pianist Lois Shapiro and before moving to Ann Arbor was active in the Boston area as a freelance trumpeter, singer, organist, teacher, and conductor.
As a 2014 Fulbright Fellow in Vienna, he worked at the Arnold Schönberg Center and studied at the University of Vienna and University of Music and Performing Arts (MdW), publishing his scholarly work with the Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Institute.
When not on the podium or studying scores, Luca enjoys performing as a jazz and classical trumpet player, reading, hiking, and running.
Orchestra Without Borders Boston is an inclusive ensemble whose mission is to present music by composers from historically marginalized groups in benefit concerts to support justice, equity, and dignity for all members of the Greater Boston community. (Click on poster to learn more)
Formed as the Brookline Chamber Singers in 2016, the Boston Summer Singers is a community chamber choir performing a diverse set of repertoire in inclusive, community-serving concerts featuring guest instrumentalists. Partnerships have included the Cambridge Community Center, Women’s Lunch Place, Church of the Covenant Boston, and Lasell Village. (Click on poster to learn more)
An experienced educator with students of all ages in clinics, classroom, and private lesson settings, Luca teaches trumpet and conducting as well as music theory, songwriting, and a variety of other topics.
Projects
Luca is the founder and director of the Orchestra Without Borders and the Boston Summer Singers, and was the conductor of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and the Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra from 2019-2022. He is an advocate of new music, premiering works by numerous composers in Ann Arbor, Boston, and abroad.
Previously, he was Assistant Conductor and Youth Orchestra Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony, where he created a chamber music program and oversaw successful recruiting and community-outreach programs. He has appeared throughout the US and Europe in conducting masterclasses with noted teachers including Benjamin Zander, Paul Vermel, Donald Portnoy, Peter Jaffe, Diane Wittry, Kenneth Kiesler, and Neil Varon.
An enthusiastic advocate of choral music, Luca has worked in a number of church music positions, most recently as Music Director and Organist at the First Parish, Unitarian Universalist in Cohasset, MA, where his tenure included revitalizing the Children's Choir. He currently leads the Boston Summer Singers, a volunteer ensemble noted for its annual benefit concert in support of the Womens' Lunch Place of Greater Boston. He was previously a Conducting Intern for the world-renowned Zamir Chorale of Boston under Dr. Joshua Jacobson and studied choral conducting with Mallorie Chernin and David Hodgkins.
Additionally, Luca maintains an active schedule as a performer on the trumpet. Recent performances have included appearances with the University Symphony Orchestra at Michigan, the New England Film Orchestra, Bay Colony Brass, New Philharmonia Orchestra under Ken-David Masur, the DuBois Orchestra, and Amity Street and Charles River Brass Quintets. He is especially interested in improvisation, jazz, and the traditional brass band literature of Eastern Europe. From his time performing with the Musikverein Leopoldau, an award-winning wind band in Vienna, Austria, Luca was named "Musical Ambassador to the United States" and is passionate about spreading traditional Bohemian repertoire to ensembles in this country.
In addition to performing, Mr. Antonucci is a committed educator passionate about teaching music at all levels. He maintains a small private studio of conductors and trumpet players, and from 2017 to 2022, he was the Middle and Upper School Instrumental and General Music Teacher at the Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, MA, where he led a variety of ensembles to new heights of achievement, as well as teaching classes on music theory, music history (including a popular History of Hip-Hop course), songwriting and composition. He also ran the After School Music Program. Luca was the conductor of the MMEA Western Junior District Orchestra in 2018 and is a frequent clinician at local schools. In addition, Luca is in-demand as a member of the faculty at Lasell Village in Newton, MA, where he teaches classes to residents on topics including Charles Ives, Mozart Operas, Kurt Weill, and the music of Latin America. He has worked at the Rivers Summer Music Program teaching music theory, chamber music, and wind ensemble classes.