Luca Antonucci is a conductor based in Ann Arbor and Boston.
He currently serves as Music Director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Open Door Ensembles of Boston, and Music Director of Boston Summer Opera, as well as Assistant Conductor of the Berkshire Opera Festival, the UMS Choral Union, the Grammy-Award-winning University Orchestras at the University of Michigan, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Former appointments include Interim Music Director of the Michigan Life Sciences Orchestra, Music Director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestras, Assistant Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director of the First Parish in Cohasset, Unitarian Universalist. Recent appearances include as guest conductor with the Spectrum Orchestra in Bloomfield Hills, MI and as Assistant Conductor with The Washington Chorus on its concert tour to Buenos Aires, where he prepared the Orquesta Juvenil “San Martin”, Argentina’s premiere training orchestra, for its performances of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” with baritone Will Liverman under the direction of Eugene Rogers.
A native of Watertown, MA, Antonucci studied conducting at the University of Michigan and the Hartt School. Winner of a number of academic awards, including as a Helen Wu Conducting Fellow at the University of Michigan, a recipient of the Graduate Regents Award at the University of Hartford, and the Consulate General Prize for Achievement in German from Amherst College, Luca was a Fulbright fellow in Vienna, Austria, where he studied the music and writings of Arnold Schoenberg and performed as a trumpet player and singer. He was also the recipient of a Jolidon Scholarship while at Hartt, and member of the American Guild of Organists, the American Musicological Society, and the Massachusetts Association for Music Educators (MMEA) and National Association for Music Educators.
Luca is also in demand as an educator. He is the conductor of the Campus Symphony at University of Michigan, and worked as band director and Director of After-School Music at the Brimmer and May School, where he taught jazz, rock, and concert bands, as well as developing curricula ranging from samba percussion to hip-hop history. He also serves as a lecturer at Lasell Village, the extension program of Lasell University. Previously, he served on the faculty of the Rivers Summer Music Camp, teaching Wind Ensemble and Music Theory. In his free time, Luca enjoys running, cooking, playing jazz piano, and listening to opera.
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.
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)