Lidiya Yankovskaya

Lidiya Yankovskaya (Russian: Лидия Янковская; Russian pronunciation: [ˈlʲidʲijɐ janˈkofskajɐ]; born 26 March 1986) is a Russian-American opera and symphonic conductor and the Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater.[1] She is currently the only female music director of a major American opera company.[2]

Lidiya Yankovskaya
Лидия Янковская
Born (1986-03-26) March 26, 1986
OccupationConductor
Websitewww.lidiyayankovskaya.com

Biography

Early life

Born in Saint Petersburg, Yankovskaya studied ballet between the ages of three- and five-years-old.[3] She studied music from the age of five, playing piano and singing in the Saint Petersburg Children’s Choir of Radio and Television. She attended performances with her mother regularly, citing a production of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges at the Mariinsky Theater as one of her first experiences with opera.[4]

Due to the anti-Semitic climate in Russia, Yankovskaya immigrated to the United States with her mother at nine-years-old.[4] They settled in upstate New York, where Yankovskaya attended Hebrew day school.[5]

Educational background

Yankovskaya's mother prioritized her musical development, enrolling her daughter at Guilderland High School in Albany, NY. Yankovskaya also joined the selective private teaching studio of piano duo Vladimir Pleshakov and Elena Winther, and began studying the violin.[5] At 17, she won the school's concerto competition for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 (K. 414). During rehearsals, conductor Jeff Herchenroder suggested that Yankovskaya try leading from the piano. She later made her conducting debut at Herchenroder's request, leading the orchestra for the third movement of Dvořák's Symphony No.7 in D minor.[4][5]

After graduation, Yankovskaya attended Vassar College, where she studied piano, voice, and conducting. She switched her focus from piano performance to conducting during her junior year. Yankovskaya led her own ensemble of approximately 55 instrumentalists and 30 singers in regular performances of contemporary works.[4] Yankovskaya holds a master's degree in conducting from Boston University.[6]

Career

Yankovskaya joined the Boston-based Juventas New Music Ensemble as an associate conductor and served as their music director between 2010-2017. Also taking on the role of artistic director in 2014, she sought to present collaborative, interdisciplinary works ranging from opera and ballet to puppetry, aerial dance, and robotic instruments.[7][4]

Also in the Greater Boston area, she has served as the music director of Commonwealth Lyric Theater, music director of Lowell House Opera at Harvard University (2011-2015), and artistic director of the Boston New Music Festival.[1][8][9] Yankovskaya has conducted the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Opera Chorus and prepared the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for programs with the Boston Symphony.[1]

As a guest conductor, Yankovskaya has performed with the Washington National Opera, the Spoleto Festival USA, Symphony New Hampshire, Wolf Trap Opera, Stamford Symphony Orchestra, Opera Saratoga, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, the Brookline Symphony, Beth Morrison Projects, American Lyric Theater, and the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

In 2015, Yankovskaya was one of six conductors selected to join the Dallas Opera's inaugural Hart Institute for Women Conductors and received honorable mention from Marin Alsop's Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship.[23][24]

Yankovskaya was appointed the music director of Chicago Opera Theater in June 2017 and began regular conducting duties with the 2018-19 season.[1] She is the first female music director at Chicago Opera Theater.

Social and political involvement

During the Syrian refugee crisis, Yankovskaya started a grassroots performance ensemble that would become known as the Refugee Orchestra Project.[4][5][6] The first performance by the ensemble took place on May 10, 2016 in Cambridge, MA. Growing interest on social media led to concerts in Boston, New York City, and Washington, DC. The orchestra joined the National Sawdust artists-in-residence for the 2017-18 season.[5]

Awards and honors

Recordings
  • Caplan, Oliver. Illuminations. Juventas New Music Ensemble and Cleveland Contemporary Players. Oliver Caplan Music 5637904943, 2012. CD.[33]
  • Lane, Peter Van Zandt. HackPolitik. Juventas New Music Ensemble. Innova Recordings 892, 2014. CD.[34]
gollark: Well, you can't, really.
gollark: So, lucas, what exactly do you want to do? Because sandboxing like that is quite hard.
gollark: If you have them be unlabelled and have some code downloaded onto them, you could make it so you can't read the code, at least.
gollark: <@443563927251582976> Are you trying to make a bad potatOS ripoff?
gollark: ... hmm, that could probably work?

References
  1. Rhein, John von (2017-06-20). "Chicago Opera Theater names new music director". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  2. "Directory of Women Leaders in Opera". The Dallas Opera. Archived from the original on 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  3. "Q&A: Chicago Opera Theater Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya on Future Goals, Conducting and the Future of Opera". operawire.com. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  4. Scorca, Marc A. (2017). "Out of Russia: A Conversation with Lidiya Yankovskaya". Opera America Magazine (Fall 2017). pp. 14–16.
  5. "Meet the NS Artist-in-Residence: Lidiya Yankovskaya, Activist Conductor". The Log Journal. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  6. "Refugee Orchestra Project spreads a musical message of inclusion - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  7. Juventas New Music Ensemble (2010-09-19). "The Exquisite Corpse" (CD). The Boston Conservatory. OCLC 670428656. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  8. Drummond II, Jay A. (2012-03-27). "Portrait of an Artist: Lidiya V. Yankovskaya | Arts | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  9. "Пиковая дама aka Piqued Lady - The Boston Musical Intelligencer". The Boston Musical Intelligencer. 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  10. Salazar, Francisco (2018-01-30). "Kevin Puts, Latonia Moore & Venera Gimadieva Headline Washington National Opera's 2018-19 Season". operawire.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  11. "Pia de' Tolomei | Spoleto Festival USA 2018". spoletousa.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  12. "Introducing our 2017-18 Season Guest Conductors". Symphony NH. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  13. Morgenstern, Ana (2017-08-12). "Review: 'Bastianello' and 'The Juniper Tree' at The Barns at Wolf Trap - DCMetroTheaterArts". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  14. "Wolf Trap Opera Season Concludes with a Double-Bill Featuring John Musto's Bastianello and Philip Glass and Robert Moran's The Juniper Tree The Barns at Wolf Trap, Four Performances, August 11, 13, 16, and 19". www.wolftrap.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  15. Remington, Kate (2017-10-09). "Music Interview: Lidiya Yankovskaya's Debut With Stamford Symphony". WSHU Public Radio. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  16. Phalen-Tomaselli, Kathleen (2017-07-02). "Crossing the operatic divide: Opera Saratoga preps for 55th Summer Festival Season". The Post-Star. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  17. Muller, Seth (2016-09-25). "Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra prepares for an all classics season". Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  18. "Music Director Search Finalists - Brookline Symphony Orchestra". brooklinesymphony.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  19. Salazar, David (2018-02-16). "Beth Morrison Projects Announces 'BMP: Next Generation' Finalists For March 2018 Concert". operawire.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  20. "The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (in development)". American Lyric Theater. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  21. Opera News Desk (2016-12-01). "American Lyric Theater and MasterVoices to Present 'InsightALT: The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing'". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  22. Powers, Keith (2017-03-22). "Boston Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya Juggles Many Roles — And, Now, A Circus Piece". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  23. Cantrell, Scott (2015-06-05). "Dallas Opera announces Women Conductors Institute participants". Dallas News. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  24. "Marin Alsop and Taki Concordia announce 2015-17 Conducting Fellows". Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship. 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  25. "World Opera Forum". Teatro Real de Madrid. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  26. "2018 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview". The League of American Orchestras. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  27. "National Opera Association - 2016-2017 Production Competition Winners". www.noa.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  28. "Creating Collaborative Change: Opera Conference 2017 Program" (PDF). OperaAmerica.org. 2017-05-04. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  29. Katz, David (2014-10-08). "OPERA COMPANIES: professional division". The American Prize Blog. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  30. Katz, David (2014-10-08). "OPERA COMPANIES: community division". The American Prize Blog. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  31. Katz, David (2014-10-25). "CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: opera division". The American Prize Blog. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  32. "National Opera Association - 2012-2013 Production Competition Winners". www.noa.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  33. "Oliver Caplan: Illuminations - Oliver Caplan Music: 18719383 | Buy from ArkivMusic". www.arkivmusic.com. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  34. "Hackpolitik | Innova Recordings". www.innova.mu. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
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