Lidiya Yankovskaya - Conductor & Artistic Director
Russian-born symphonic and opera conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya's recent work has been hailed as “superb,” “expert,” and “coax[ing] every possible expressive note from the instrumentalists.” Recently named Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, this season she also completes her tenure as Artistic Director of Juventas New Music Ensemble, and is a resident artist at National Sawdust with the Refugee Orchestra Project. Guest conducting engagements include Wolftrap Opera, Flagstaff Symphony, Beth Morrison Projects, American Lyric Theater, Opera Saratoga, Brookline Symphony, and Stamford Symphony. Other recent positions include serving as Music Director with Commonwealth Lyric Theater, Music Director with Harvard's Lowell House Opera, as a chorus master for numerous programs with Boston Symphony Orchestra/Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and as a conductor with Boston Youth Symphony. Lidiya is also part of Dallas Opera's inaugural Institute for Women Conductors, the Taki Concordia Fellowship program, and has been a conducting fellow at the Cabrillo Festival and under Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival, where assisted Maazel and filled in for him regularly in rehearsal and performance. Other current projects include Rubinshteyn's The Demon with Commonwealth Lyric Theater, the world premiere of Dan Shore’s opera Freedom Ride with Juventas, San Francisco performances of Rimsky Korsakov's Kashchej the Immortal and Mozart and Salieri, the world premiere of Julian Wachner's Rev23, and concerts with Stamford Symphony.
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Lidiya began her studies on piano at the Russian Specialized Music Schools and as a singer in the St. Petersburg Children's Choir at age five. Soon thereafter, she also began playing the violin. Lidiya first performed as a conductor at age seventeen, when she lead her high school orchestra in the third movement of Dvořak's Symphony no. 7. Lidiya's conducting teachers and mentors have included Lorin Maazel, Marin Alsop, Kenneth Kiesler, Ann Howard Jones, David Hoose, Joshua Jacobson, Eduardo Navega, and Christine Howlett. She has also participated in workshops and masterclasses with James Ross, Gustav Meier, JoAnn Falletta, Mark Gibson, Arthur Fagen, and Simon Carrington. Lidiya holds a B.A. in Music and Philosophy, Phi Beta Kappa with Departmental Honors, focusing on piano, voice and conducting from Vassar College. Upon graduation from Vassar, Lidiya received the Francis Walker Piano Prize. Lidiya also holds an MM in Conducting, Pi Kappa Lambda, on a full tuition Dean's Scholarship, from Boston University. While at BU, Lidiya also studied voice with Sharon Daniels, Director of the BU Opera Institute, and collaborative piano with Shiela Kibbe, chair of BU's Collaborative Piano Department. More at www.LidiyaYankovskaya.com
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Lidiya began her studies on piano at the Russian Specialized Music Schools and as a singer in the St. Petersburg Children's Choir at age five. Soon thereafter, she also began playing the violin. Lidiya first performed as a conductor at age seventeen, when she lead her high school orchestra in the third movement of Dvořak's Symphony no. 7. Lidiya's conducting teachers and mentors have included Lorin Maazel, Marin Alsop, Kenneth Kiesler, Ann Howard Jones, David Hoose, Joshua Jacobson, Eduardo Navega, and Christine Howlett. She has also participated in workshops and masterclasses with James Ross, Gustav Meier, JoAnn Falletta, Mark Gibson, Arthur Fagen, and Simon Carrington. Lidiya holds a B.A. in Music and Philosophy, Phi Beta Kappa with Departmental Honors, focusing on piano, voice and conducting from Vassar College. Upon graduation from Vassar, Lidiya received the Francis Walker Piano Prize. Lidiya also holds an MM in Conducting, Pi Kappa Lambda, on a full tuition Dean's Scholarship, from Boston University. While at BU, Lidiya also studied voice with Sharon Daniels, Director of the BU Opera Institute, and collaborative piano with Shiela Kibbe, chair of BU's Collaborative Piano Department. More at www.LidiyaYankovskaya.com
Kaila J. Frymire - Executive Director
Kaila is a versatile musician who enjoys performing classical, jazz, and musical theatre. She regularly performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Past opera and music theatre appearances include shows with New York Musical Theatre Festival, the Footlight Club, the Wellesley Players, the Opposite of People Theater Company, NE Cabaret Theatre, Boston Metro Opera, Boston Opera Collaborative, Theatre de la Jeune Lune (Mpls), Illusion Theatre (Mpls), and the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company of Minnesota. In 2007, Kaila participated in a music performance workshop in Vienna, Austria where she studied classical repertoire with renowned soprano Donna Robin. She received further advanced training through Nautilus Music-Theater’s Wesley Balk Opera / Music-Theater Institute and workshops with Tony-Award Winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Kaila is passionate about collaboration with other artists. She enjoys both experimental and traditional art forms, and especially admires the work of Wesley H. Balk in developing practices for the complete singer-actor. Kaila is an experienced teacher of voice and piano, and has directed three full-length musical theatre productions and a concert promoting the works of living composers. Kaila received her B.M. in Vocal Performance from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and currently studies with Kathleen Flynn.
Channing Yu - Associate Artistic Director
American orchestra and opera conductor Channing Yu is Associate Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project. He is Music Director of the Mercury Orchestra in Cambridge, Massachusetts and national winner of the 2010 American Prize in Orchestral Conducting. He recently served as Music Director of the Dudley Orchestra in Cambridge, Music Director of Bay Colony Brass in Watertown, Massachusetts, and Leader of the Powers Community String Orchestra in Belmont, Massachusetts. He has also served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lowell House Opera, where he conducted over thirty fully staged performances with orchestra, including Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Puccini’s Turandot, Verdi’s Otello, and Puccini’s Tosca.
First trained as a pianist, Yu was divisional grand prize winner of the American Music Scholarship Association International Piano Competition and has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchèstra Nova. Anthony Tommassini of The Boston Globe praised his “imaginative piano work.” As violinist, he has served as concertmaster of the Brahms Society Orchestra and violinist in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and he currently performs with Camerata Notturna in New York City. As lyric baritone, he performed recently with New Jersey Verismo Opera and previously with the Boston Opera Collaborative and in the Neil Semer Vocal Institute in Germany. He sings with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Grammy award-winning chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.
First trained as a pianist, Yu was divisional grand prize winner of the American Music Scholarship Association International Piano Competition and has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchèstra Nova. Anthony Tommassini of The Boston Globe praised his “imaginative piano work.” As violinist, he has served as concertmaster of the Brahms Society Orchestra and violinist in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and he currently performs with Camerata Notturna in New York City. As lyric baritone, he performed recently with New Jersey Verismo Opera and previously with the Boston Opera Collaborative and in the Neil Semer Vocal Institute in Germany. He sings with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Grammy award-winning chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.
Allison Provaire - Associate Executive Director
Soprano Allison Provaire has been hailed for her "gleaming tone" as an up and coming artist in the Boston area where she has performed with several companies including Lowell House Opera, Opera Brittenica, Boston Opera Collaborative, Odyssey Opera and as a soloist with Calliope Music Ensemble of Boston. Recent credits include Mrs. Webb (Our Town), Mrs. Gross (Cover, Turn of the Screw), Lady Billows (Albert Herring), and Kitty Hart (Dead Man Walking).
Ms. Provaire has also been seen abroad as a soloist with the International Lyric Academy of Rome as part of the Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy under the direction of Timothy Leon of L.A. Opera, as well as in China where she was a soloist with the Cultural Arts and Music Festival of Shanghai. Ms. Provaire has been an invited singer in masterclasses throughout Boston and abroad and has worked with The Metropolitan Opera's Nico Castel, renowned Baritone Anton Belov, and International Conductor Maestro Stefano Vignati, among several others. A native of New Jersey, Ms. Provaire received her Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Music Performance from The College of New Jersey and her Master of Music from The Boston Conservatory where she studied under Kathryn Wright.
Ms. Provaire has also been seen abroad as a soloist with the International Lyric Academy of Rome as part of the Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy under the direction of Timothy Leon of L.A. Opera, as well as in China where she was a soloist with the Cultural Arts and Music Festival of Shanghai. Ms. Provaire has been an invited singer in masterclasses throughout Boston and abroad and has worked with The Metropolitan Opera's Nico Castel, renowned Baritone Anton Belov, and International Conductor Maestro Stefano Vignati, among several others. A native of New Jersey, Ms. Provaire received her Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Music Performance from The College of New Jersey and her Master of Music from The Boston Conservatory where she studied under Kathryn Wright.
Brandon Milardo - Director of Marketing & Communications
Brandon Milardo is an experienced arts marketing professional who has worked for various theater, opera, and classical music organizations in the Boston area since arriving in 2010. He is a committed advocate for equity on stage, in the audience, and in the front office, and is proud to bring this passion to bear in support of the HIAS and the IRC. In addition to his work in arts administration, Brandon is an active actor and singer in the Boston area, having worked most recently with Bad Habit Productions, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Boston Midsummer Opera, and Boston Opera Collaborative.
Derek J. Weagle - Administrative and Communications Associate
Derek is an emerging composer, conductor, and music educator based in New York City. Involved in a wide variety of musical activities since a young age, he became hungry for the diverse experiences the arts have to offer. Weagle's compositional style has been hailed for its simultaneous nostalgic and contemporary flavors. His work draws on a varied palate of sound, not only in the art music idiom, but also indie, folk, R&B, film, and world traditions. Derek's compositional philosophy is focused on tearing down the social barriers that have emerged around "classical music," hoping to provide audiences with an experience to which they can connect.
Derek has independently produced and conducted several performances of his own work including the premieres of his Earthrise Mass in 2015, his Serenade for Bass-Baritone, Horn & Strings in 2016, and most recently, his English horn sonata, Resplendent Sorrow. His choral work Assembly was commissioned in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the New England Conservatory and will be premiered in the fall. Derek holds a B.M. in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory, where he studied composition with Michael Gandolfi and choral conducting with Erica Washburn.
Derek has independently produced and conducted several performances of his own work including the premieres of his Earthrise Mass in 2015, his Serenade for Bass-Baritone, Horn & Strings in 2016, and most recently, his English horn sonata, Resplendent Sorrow. His choral work Assembly was commissioned in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the New England Conservatory and will be premiered in the fall. Derek holds a B.M. in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory, where he studied composition with Michael Gandolfi and choral conducting with Erica Washburn.
Kristie Chan - Company & Stage Manager
Kristie Chan is an arts administrator whose passion lies in making the arts accessible to everyone. Starting out as a chemist in college, she fell in love with arts administration after being exposed to the career while working as an Artist Assistant at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Kristie now works as the Orchestra Management Assistant at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, working under both Orchestra Personnel and Operations. She graduated with a B.A. in Music from Mount Holyoke College studying piano under Gary Steigerwalt and earned a Certificate in Arts Administration from UMass Amherst.
Kristie now works as the Orchestra Management Assistant at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, working under both Orchestra Personnel and Operations. She graduated with a B.A. in Music from Mount Holyoke College studying piano under Gary Steigerwalt and earned a Certificate in Arts Administration from UMass Amherst.
Rose Whitcomb - Library Manager
Rose graduated from Harvard University in 2016 with a B.A. degree in Music. Currently, she is substitute teaching for students grades 7-12 at Prospect Hill Academy, a charter school in Cambridge. As an undergraduate, she performed on clarinet as a member of the River Charles Ensemble, and the Harvard University Wind Ensemble. She also taught private lessons through the Harvard and Radcliffe Musical Outreach to Neighborhood Youth program (HARMONY) of the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and directed the Summer HARMONY program where she conducted music workshops with Boston and Cambridge students (ages 5-14). Rose is committed to working as a music educator and knows that the work of learning/performing music is essential formative work for learners of all ages.
