In 2020, COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya led the company in a fully staged world premiere before the pandemic and daring online performances amid the shutdown. In both settings, Yankovskaya and COT emerged as the very model of how to survive adversity, and also how to thrive in it.
Read More“Despite the pandemic, the musical director of the Chicago Opera continues to work…”
The tenacity of companies like Chicago Opera Theater cannot be understated. The work requires resourcefulness, organizational prowess, an abiding mutual trust from supporters and donors, and the kind of exuberant industriousness exemplified in their Orli and Bill Staley Music Director, Lidiya Yankovskaya.
Read MoreIf you watch any US orchestra, particularly one with a multimillion-dollar budget, you’re almost guaranteed to see a white man standing on the conductor’s podium. Most estimates put the share of women conductors in America at or below 10 percent—and that’s only if you include those holding the baton for community groups, youth orchestras, and summer festivals. At Chicago Opera Theater, Lidiya Yankovskaya is among the few to crack an especially thick glass ceiling…
Read MoreLidiya Yankovskaya is busy—which, in light of the last six months, is good to hear. The music director of the Chicago Opera Theater, founder of the Refugee Orchestra Project, and former Musical America New Artist of the Month, Yankovskaya is at the moment involved in three projects simultaneously, each requiring major adjustments for the pandemic.
Read MoreAs her smile crescendos, it’s clear that she can’t help but delightedly state the obvious: Lidiya Yankovskaya is “very, very excited for live music.” And come this weekend, the Russian-American conductor’s six-month-long, pandemic-induced concert drought will finally draw to an end…
Read MoreLidiya Yankovskaya is among an increasing number of conductors forming their own orchestras while balancing guest-conducting and staff positions at other orchestras
Read MoreCOVID-19, of course, has forced cancellations of virtually all performing arts and also cast a gloom, at least one would think, over those making their livelihood from things like opera or symphonic music. But Yankovskaya sees new possibilities arising from the economic instability brought about by the pandemic, especially when combined with society’s increasing demand for racial equality in all aspects of American life…
Read MoreThink back 20 or 30 years. Trying to spot a female conductor in one of the world’s leading concert halls would have had almost zero chance of success. How the world has changed, with a new generation of young women conductors now rising to positions of influence…
Read MoreOver the next ten years, Yankovskaya believes that new work will take precedence over the warhorses. It’s not about rejecting the standard repertory, she explains, but about embracing the new…
Read MoreIt’s hard to keep track of the force of nature that is Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya…
Read MoreYankovskaya delivers performances that hold a striking blend of strength and sensitivity…
Read MoreCan music be a form of resistance? We spoke to two artists who are challenging the limits of musical free expression…
Read MoreLidiya Yankovskaya is on a mission to create an operagoing culture in the United States, on par with that of Europe and her native Russia.
Read MoreWith conducting, however, Yankovskaya found a perfect fit for her talents and temperament. The often-solitary career of a solo violinist or pianist didn’t appeal to her, and she craved the collaboration of conducting an orchestra or, especially, directing an opera company.
Read MoreOpera experimentalism has flourished in the past decade among a gaggle of startup companies around the city. Yankovskaya is taking that energy and injecting it into a major company. Naysayers accuse opera of resuscitating a permanent past. Here is where you can see the present.
Read MoreLidiya joins BBC World’s Newsday to discuss her Refugee Orchestra Project and the cultural enrichment immigrants and refugees bring to society.
Read More“Amid the current proliferation of nativism across the industrialized world, musicians are uniquely positioned to convey the following simple message that we should all, as artists, understand: no matter who you are, where you are from, how much money you have, or what language you speak, you have inherent worth.”
Read More“The richness, variety and depth of music that has come out of immigrant and refugee communities is immense. I hope our audiences see that refugees have come from many places throughout our history, and any of us could find ourselves in the position of desperately needing help.”
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