Players 2023: Who Really Performs for Chicago Right Now in Opera

Newcity Magazine

Chicago, IL

As Chicago Opera Theater reaches the milestone of its fiftieth anniversary, its face is no longer that of a male impresario, as was true for forty-five of those years. A conductor is now at the artistic helm, and a woman conductor at that. Yankovskaya’s significance is not merely being female in a male-dominated field, but because her work is consistently excellent, her tenure has revitalized the company. Yankovskaya is in high demand everywhere, but making Chicago her home has its perks. In addition to Yankovskaya’s COT work—which included the Chicago premiere of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s 1926 opera “King Roger” last fall and the forthcoming world premiere of Justine F. Chen’s “The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing” in March—she has made area debuts with the Elgin Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and MusicNOW, which revealed her mastery of symphonic repertoire to be as formidable as her operatic conducting.