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 former music director of Chicago Opera Theater.

Biography

Early life Born in Saint Petersburg. Yankovskaya studied ballet between the ages of three and five. 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.

Due to the anti-Semitic climate in Russia, Yankovskaya immigrated to the United States with her mother at the age of nine.

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.

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. Yankovskaya has conducted the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Opera Chorus and prepared the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for programs with the Boston Symphony.

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.

Social and political involvement During the Syrian refugee crisis, Yankovskaya started a grassroots performance ensemble that would become known as the Refugee Orchestra Project. 2018: Selected for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, The League of American Orchestras 2018: National Opera Association, Best Opera Production for Rubinstein's The Demon with Commonwealth Lyric Theater 2017: Featured speaker, Opera America Conference in Dallas 2015: Participated in the Dallas Opera’s inaugural Hart Institute for Women Conductors 2015: Honorable Mention from Marin Alsop’s Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship 2014: Winner of The American Prize in Opera Performance (Professional Division) for The Magic Mirror with Juventas New Music Ensemble 2014: Winner of The American Prize in Opera Performance (Community Division) for A Midsummer Night's Dream with Lowell House Opera 2014: Second Place in The American Prize in Conducting, Opera Division 2013: National Opera Association, Best Opera Production for Rachmaninoff's Aleko with Commonwealth Lyric Theater

Recordings

Caplan, Oliver. Illuminations. Juventas New Music Ensemble and Cleveland Contemporary Players. Oliver Caplan Music 5637904943, 2012. CD. Lane, Peter Van Zandt. HackPolitik. Juventas New Music Ensemble. Innova Recordings 892, 2014. CD.