Yoichi Udagawa is music director and conductor of the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, the Melrose Symphony Orchestra and the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Udagawa is also on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory where he teaches conducting. In addition, he is a cover conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Frequently invited to guest conduct, Maestro Udagawa has worked with many different orchestras including the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Nobeoka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Indian Hill Symphony, the Garden State Philharmonic, the Brown University Orchestra, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, the Newton Symphony, the Austin Civic Orchestra, and the Mid- Texas Symphony. March marks his third guest conducting appearance with the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra.

Udagawa is at home in popular and contemporary music as well as the standard symphonic repertoire. His programs for the 2013-14 season include Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Debussy La Mer, Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5, Stravinsky Symphony in C, Beethoven Symphony No. 5, and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and several world premieres as well as special education, holiday, and pops programs.

Udagawa, the son of a nuclear physicist father and singer/artist mother, was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. His family immigrated to the United States soon thereafter. He began playing the violin at age four and made his conducting debut at the age of fifteen. After receiving a music degree from the University of Texas at Austin, he continued advanced studies in conducting with Gunther Schuller, Seiji Ozawa, Morihiro Okabe, and Henry Charles Smith. A fan of many different styles of music, Udagawa also enjoys performing gospel music in addition to his conducting activities. He is also an accomplished violinist and an avid fan of exercise and yoga.