Bruce Uchimura, cellist, conductor, and musician, has had a distinguished career as a performer and educator. He has been a cello and chamber music professor at Western Michigan University’s School of Music since 1987 and director of the WMU Symphony Orchestra.

 

Uchimura was associate conductor of the Augusta (Georgia) Symphony Orchestra from 1985-87, where he developed a highly successful Symphonic Pops and Educational Series. He also formed and conducted the Western String Chamber Orchestra from 1987-1998. In 1998, he took over the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra. The WMU Orchestra won the Downbeat Magazine Award for Best College Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and was invited to perform at the Michigan Music Educator’s Conference in 2007 and 2016. The WMU Orchestra was the third-place winner in the 2015 “American Prize” media-based competition’s Best College Orchestra category. Uchimura is in much demand as an educator and clinician and has guest-conducted numerous All-State and Honors Orchestras throughout the country.  

 

Uchimura was the cellist of the highly acclaimed Merling Trio (with his wife, pianist  Susan Wiersma-Uchimura and violinist Renata Artman-Knific) for over 30 years. The Merling Trio was a finalist in the Walter F. Naumburg Chamber Music 

Competition in 1993 and has given hundreds of concerts and master classes in 45 states, Canada, China, and England. The trio recorded 5 CDs and commissioned and premiered many important Piano Trios and arrangements.

 

He has played cello recitals, given master classes throughout the United States, and was a charter faculty member at the renowned ENCORE School for Strings Summer program. He is also on the faculty of the ARIA Summer Music Academy and the International Cello Institute. He was awarded “String Teacher of the Year” by the American String Teachers Association Michigan Chapter in 2010.

 

Uchimura’s former WMU and private cello students have gone on to impressive university, conservatory, and graduate programs, as well as securing professional jobs in orchestras, chamber ensembles, and university teaching positions. He has also trained successful music educators and music therapists. He is a strong advocate of entrepreneurship in music and supports the growth of classical musicians in new and innovative ways.

 

He credits his former cello teachers, the distinguished American cellist Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, and Alan Harris for the musical knowledge he passes to his students. He received his degrees from the Juilliard School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

 

He performs on a cello made by Enrico Marchetti in 1899.

 

Uchimura is delighted to debut and make music with his distinguished Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra colleagues in the KSO Craft Concert Series at Bell’s Eccentric Café.