CS Modern Luxury Magazine
Chicago, IL
Lidiya Yankovskaya is on a mission to create an operagoing culture in the United States, on par with that of Europe and her native Russia.
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Chicago Classical Review
Chicago, IL
With 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.
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Chicago Magazine
Chicago, IL
Opera 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.
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BBC World
London, UK
Lidiya joins BBC World’s Newsday to discuss her Refugee Orchestra Project and the cultural enrichment immigrants and refugees bring to society.
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NewMusicBox
New York, NY
“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.”
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The American Magazine
London, UK
“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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BBC Radio 3
London, UK
Lidiya Yankovskaya has a passion for the new and for the neglected. She’s here for a Refugee Orchestra concert, she’s the Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, and a whole host of other things that make me feel deeply inadequate.
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NewMusicBox
New York, NY
“Today, I often still find myself the sole female voice in a room, and I see an even bigger lack of other types of diversity within my profession. How can we all work to bring a plurality of viewpoints to every area of our art form?”
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CNN
New York, NY
“All of us who are on that stage come to the experience with our own feelings and our emotions about what fleeing and seeking for home means to us.” The Refugee Orchestra Project brings together musicians from all over the world and provides a space for refugees and immigrants to share their experiences through music.
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NewMusicBox
New York, NY
“Opera’s strength has been in its ability to unite the arts to tell powerful, moving stories. In order to cultivate a diverse generation of talent, we must find a way to overcome the existing limitations of accessibility to sufficient training.”
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NewMusicBox
New York, NY
“In bypassing institutional gatekeepers, these conductors have brought relevance, vitality, and an expanding number of previously unrepresented voices into the field. Indeed, the dynamic new ‘catalyst-conductor’ could help bring the revitalization that the classical music industry so desperately seeks.”
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Newcity Magazine
Chicago, IL
Her musical presence has revitalized a company that had become a shadow of itself. The Chicago premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick in April was a major event, in no small part because of Yankovskaya’s elucidation of the score… The Chicago premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta was no less revelatory.
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Classical Music Magazine
London, UK
Founded in 2015 by conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, the ROP has taken its message of inclusion to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world via live and streamed performances in New York, Boston, Washington D.C. and at the United Nations. The UK debut concert will raise money for London-based charity Refugee Action.
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Lagniappe Weekly
Mobile, AL
When the Mobile Symphony Orchestra takes the Saenger Theatre stage at month’s end, a pioneer will lead them. But that’s what trailblazers do, isn’t it?
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New York Review of Books
New York, NY
Now that she’s running a multimillion-dollar operation, Yankovskaya directs casting, chooses the repertoire, and oversees management of the orchestra; and, of course, she conducts most of the company’s productions.
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The Washington Post
Washington, D.C.
What makes an American opera? Companies across the country seem to be perpetually asking this question.
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Musical America
New York, NY
Friendly and fearsomely articulate about her personal goals and plans for COT, she clearly relishes opera’s nonstop interaction with colleagues, from singers and musicians to administrative personnel, from stage directors to stagehands.
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UN News Russia
New York, NY
“The work that we are performing today is very interesting. We come together with the stars of the world of classical Indian music – Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Ayaan and Amaan, who play the traditional instrument of India, the sarod. The piece is a concert for a trio of sarods, accompanied by an orchestra of classical music. Thus, the music of India and classical Western music merge into one. The music will be played not only by India, not only by Western European music - the music of the whole world merges here in the United Nations.”
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UN News
New York, NY
“You don’t need to speak a common language linguistically to perform together because music is universal. We try to express emotions – we try to touch our listeners through rhythm and through melody. And maybe we use a different scale or a different mode or a slightly different rhythmic pattern to do so, but ultimately it is all the same. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your context is…”
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Solti Foundation U.S.
Chicago, IL
”The young musicians we recognize are part of the fabric of our future musical landscape. From what we have seen and heard, it is going to be a glorious, immense vista, full of creativity, energy and passion,” said Ms. Van Horn.
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