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In the male-dominated world of classical music, conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya often garners attention as the only woman in the room. It’s not a distinction she ever sought out, or even gave much thought to. Her focus has always been on the music.
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya recently met with MCR journalist Daniel Krenz to talk about concert halls, music, and her approaching program with the Nashville Symphony.
With funding for new work an ever-shrinking resource, conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya tailors her approach to the budget available and – along with her peers – makes the case for experimentation in opera.
Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya comes to Opera Australia to conduct Puccini’s Il trittico, a rare triptych of operas which span tragedy, farce, and religious fervour. Lidiya is at home with the operatic canon but she’s also conducted a swathe of new opera world premieres. She joins Andy to talk about finding the same passion for the music through new and old works.
Few musicians can claim to have conducted more than 40 world premieres by the age of 38. Step forward Lidiya Yankovskaya, the outgoing music director of Chicago Opera Theater and named Chicagoan of the Year for 2020. It seems startling to relinquish such a post, but Yankovskaya feels ready for the challenges ahead.
English National Opera needed a new conductor to jump into a production of a tricky and disturbing 20th-century masterpiece. Luckily there was an obvious candidate: why not get the conductor who had led another challenging 20th-century masterpiece at ENO — and had a triumph? So the Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, the conductor of last year’s acclaimed ENO production of Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, stepped in.
The number of female conductors on the world’s orchestral podiums might be rising, but there is still some distance to cover, writes Jessica Duchen. Fast-rising star Lidiya Yankovskaya doesn’t mince her words about the challenges she has faced. “There’s a misconception that we’ve changed things more than we have. That’s because we started in a place that was so bad.”
As music director of the Chicago Opera Theater for the past seven years, Lidiya Yankovskaya has brought well-earned attention to the company with her commitment to presenting compelling interpretations of a varied repertoire. Now she has said she will step down at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, with her final production as The Nose, Shostakovich's absurdist political satire.
Yankovskaya has raised the profile of COT immensely, her interpretations bracing and repertoire head-spinningly varied: She led 25 new-to-Chicago works, 11 of which were world premieres. She’s also fashioned COT as a primo stop for artists growing their careers by formalizing COT’s Young Artist Program and founding its Vanguard Initiative, which pairs first-time opera composers with accomplished librettists to trial-run a new work.
On December 8 and 10, the Chicago premiere of the opera “The Nose” by D. Shostakovich will take place at the Chicago Opera Theater. The conductor is the musical director of the theater Lydia Yankovskaya. About the future performance, reasons for leaving COT and immediate plans - in an exclusive interview with the conductor.
The central event of the fiftieth anniversary season of the Chicago Opera Theater is the Chicago premiere of D. Shostakovich’s opera “The Nose”. The conductor is the musical director of the theater Lydia Yankovskaya.
Symphony San Jose opens its season by exploring this theme with a program of music from various stories and legends. Under the baton of the dynamic Chicago conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, the orchestra casts a spotlight on music with a mythic undercurrent.
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya believes in exploring music from a full spectrum — beloved classics of the repertoire, as well as ink-still-wet new works. With a strong commitment to innovation, Yankovskaya has become one of classical music’s essential artists.
“The wonderful thing about Rusalka, like many great operas, is that the drama and the music are so woven together. So for me, the most important thing is finding that overall arc of the storytelling, and finding how each individual moment fits into the arc.”
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya makes her Santa Fe Opera debut this season with Dvorak’s Rusalka. KHFM Executive Director Brent Stevens does an in-depth preview of the piece and Lidiya’s role as music director.
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya tells us why she thinks Anton Rubinstein deserves to be a more celebrated figure.
Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya shares her favorite local spots in Chicago with Michigan Avenue Magazine writer J.P. Anderson.
“Mike Goldberg talks with Lidiya on ‘An Hour with the Richmond Symphony,’ discussing her musical background, the impact of Russian and American cultures on her career, and the repertoire for this weekend's program featuring Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as works by American composers John Adams, Florence Price and James Lee III.”
“‘I can’t think of many companies that would do this work. To stage the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is a big risk and a really out of the box idea. Most organisations would not have the confidence, even if they believed in it.’ The 37-year-old conductor debuts tonight at the English National Opera. She reflects on grief, balancing art with emotion and the importance of companies like the ENO.’”
“My job is to bring people together to inspire them and help guide a unified interpretation. I think it would be healthy if all leadership were approached more like that, and less from a standpoint of beating people into submission, forcing something, or proving something. Great music-making isn’t about that and never can be.”
“I am glad that the film has sparked so much conversation about conducting,” said Yankovsaya, a rising star in classical music [and] music director of Chicago Opera Theater. “While it’s unfortunate that Tár is a negative character, I am heartened to know that now, when people think ‘conductor,’ the image in their minds might be of a woman.”
“It's a beautiful opportunity,” says Lidiya Yankovskaya. “A month of rehearsal, where the director, the singer and I get to think every day about every nuance of that emotional dramatic arc over the course of the piece. That is a luxury.” Speaking over Zoom during a rare day off between concerts in Detroit and Knoxville, the Russian-American conductor is palpably excited about her upcoming appearances at English National Opera.
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya was in Knoxville recently to conduct Oliver Herbert in the Dvořák cello concerto, also the Rosenkavalier suite and a new work by Missy Mazzoli. Charlotte Wilson catches up with her to discuss conducting and the future of music.
Born in St. Petersburg, Lidiya Yankovskaya grew up in the United States, where she is a big draw, appearing with a number of prestigious orchestras. At ENO she conducts Henryk Górecki's moving Symphony of Sorrowful Songs in a staged performance.
Because her work is consistently excellent, her tenure has revitalized the company. Yankovskaya is in high demand everywhere… Her mastery of symphonic repertoire is as formidable as her operatic conducting.
“Short phrases are much easier and clearer to conduct; in pieces like this, large gestures across time are key. It’s all one big phrase, and it relies on the conductor to carry that phrasing. When you have that many major chords in a row, how each one is voiced becomes crucial.”
"Refugees often don't talk about refugee status; they don't want it to define them," says Lidiya Yankovskaya, founder and conductor of the Refugee Orchestra Project, an ensemble of top-level musicians from around the globe. "They want to define their own lives for who they are."
Monday marks World Refugee Day, something that has added significance this year in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports on the inspiring story of The Refugee Orchestra Project aiming to help them and others.
Raised in Russia, with summers in Ukraine, Lidiya Yankovskaya’s family fled St. Petersburg in the post-Soviet Reconstruction era. She founded the Refugee Orchestra Project to raise awareness about the contributions refugees make.
Music can foster dialogue – by telling stories, by transporting us into a different place, a different culture, a different sense of time, a different point in history…