Symphony San Jose set for intriguing presentation
Russian conductor will lead orchestra in `Myths, Fairy Tales, and Legends'
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya believes in exploring music from a full spectrum — beloved classics of the repertoire, as well as ink-still-wet new works.
“Absolutely,” she says, “I think we look back and define eras based on the art that they produced — and what will define today for the people of tomorrow. It's very important to keep the art form not just alive, but relevant.”
With a strong commitment to innovation, Yankovskaya has become one of classical music's essential artists. This week, the Russian-born, Chicagobased conductor comes to the Bay Area to lead Symphony San Jose's new program. Titled “Myths, Fairy Tales and Legends,” it features Lera Auerbach's “Icarus,” Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from “Tristan und Isolde,” and a Suite from Prokofiev's “Cinderella.”
In a call from her home in Chicago, where she is music director of Chicago Opera Theater, Yankovskaya said she was looking forward to the sure breadth of this weekend's performances.
“It's a range of the kinds
of things that excite me the most,” she said, noting that Auerbach's piece, which opens the program, makes an intriguing introduction to the Wagner music that follows.
“Lera is a spectacular composer — so imaginative, and she thinks in these big forms that connect to the Wagner. Her music is vast: It focuses on these long phrases, taking that and building it over time, as Wagner does. With Wagner, it's all about that endless phrase that doesn't resolve, doesn't give up — and before you know it, a lot of time has passed and you didn't even know it. It just pulls you along. Lera's music has a similar effect.”
Yankovskaya described the program's second half as “a lot lighter, with Prokofiev's `Cinderella' Suite in my own compilation — one that includes selections from three different suites. I created this compilation
last season, and this will be the first time I've conducted it.”
Building connections from past to present is a key component in Yankovskaya's musical outlook, whether she's conducting symphonic works or operas. It's an approach she said she's maintained since her early training. Born in St. Petersburg, she played piano and violin, and sang in children's choruses. She started conducting when she was in high school, and continued to hone her podium skills at Vassar College and Boston University.
Since then, she's divided her time between symphonic works and opera,
with appearances at the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Houston Grand Opera, and Chicago Symphony. She's conducted 40 world premieres, including 17 operas; in recent years she led the Chicago premieres of Jake Heggie's “Moby-Dick” and Joby Talbot's “Everest.” When we spoke, she had just finished conducting one of her favorite operas, Dvorak's “Rusalka,” at Santa Fe Opera. Further back, Bay Area audiences may remember her work at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz.
New works continue to be a focus. “New work
and standard repertoire — sometimes they're presented as two different things,” she said. “But there are ways to tie them together. Music is a response not just to our cultural landscape but to our emotional lives. I think it's very important to keep that present and in the forefront.”
For Yankovskaya, symphonic concerts such as this weekend's are especially important.
“With symphonic music, we have a rare opportunity,” she said. “In today's world, there are so few places where we can go, shut off what's around us and just focus on one
thing. You go to a film, a musical, even an opera, and there are so many things happening.
“A symphony concert is really that one space. It's just you and the music; you're not bombarded by different media — and yet you still experience it in a communal way.
“There's something about this human thing of experiencing it as a group, feeling the energy. You have your individual relationship with it, but you're also feeling the energy of the group around you. That's something unique.”