Renowned conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya joins Fox32 ahead of her final hometown concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, reflecting on her journey, upcoming global move to London, and the future of classical music.
Read MoreThe music of different cultures has always been part of her life. Drawing these strands together leads to Yankovskaya’s commitment to new music.
Read MoreWith 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.
Read MoreFew 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.
Read MoreEnglish 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.
Read MoreYankovskaya 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.
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