Music Director Victor Yampolsky
Esteemed teacher, conductor, and violinist, Victor Yampolsky serves as Carol F. and Arthur L. Rice Jr. University Professor in Music Performance at the Northwestern University School of Music, Music Director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, Music Director Emeritus of the Omaha Symphony, as well as the Honorary Director of the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Born in the Soviet Union in 1942, Yampolsky, the son of the great pianist Vladimir Yampolsky, studied violin with the legendary David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory and conducting with Maestro Nicolai Rabinovich at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was a member of the Moscow Philharmonic as both violinist and assistant conductor, under the direction of renowned Maestro Kyrill Kondrashin.
Yampolsky emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1973, where a recommendation from conductor Zubin Mehta led to an audition for Leonard Bernstein, who offered Yampolsky his scholarship at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusets. Two weeks later, Bernstein offered Mr. Yampolsky a position in the violin section of the Boston Symphony. He was later appointed the orchestra’s principal second violinist.
In 1977, Mr. Yampolsky became Music Director of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was the conductor of the Young Artists Orchestra at Tanglewood. Two years later he became Adjunct Professor of Violin and Director of Orchestras at the Boston University School of Music. Since 1979, he has participated in the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax as violinist and conductor, celebrating the Festival’s 25 years with the performance of Oliver Messiaen’s Turangailia Symphony on June 13, 2004.
Yampolsky has conducted over 70 professional and student orchestras throughout the world, including repeated engagements with orchestras in the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan and Chile. Forthcoming engagements include debut with the Green Bay Symphony and return visits to KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic and Cape Philharmonic (Durban and Cape Town, South Africa). In 2007-2008, Yampolsky was invited to serve as guest professor of conducting at the State Conservatory of Saint Petersburg.
This past year Mr. Yampolsky also gave lectures and master classes at: Emory University, University of Akron, University of Victoria, Stellenbosch Conservatory, as well as Cape Philharmonic Youth orchestra in Cape Town, South Africa.
In April 2008, Mr. Yampolsky served as a juror of the Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St.Petersburg, Russia.
Since 1984, Yampolsky has been Director of Orchestras at Northwestern University, finishing 20 years of service with the performance of Mahler’s 9th Symphony on 4 June 2004 and producing first DVD of the symphony concert on January 27, 2007. From 1992 to 1997 he directed the Storioni Ensemble, a professional string ensemble in residence at Northwestern University. Since 1986, Yampolsky has been Music Director of the Peninsula Music Festival, in Door County, Wisconsin. In 1993-94 he served as Principal Conductor of the National Symphony orchestra in Johannesburg and from 1995 until 2004 he served as Music Director of the Omaha Symphony, a period of significant artistic growth for the orchestra. In 2002, Yampolsky led the Omaha Symphony in its debut recording, Take Flight and the following year in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Second Piano Concerto, which received an award of the Nebraska Arts Council. He holds an honorary doctorate from University of Nebraska at Omaha and Doane College in Crete, Nebraska.
In addition to his conducting and teaching obligations, Mr. Yampolsky has been a Panel Member of the League of American Orchestras Conductors Continuum Committee helping young talented conductors in the USA.
Yampolsky has recorded for Pyramid and Kiwi-Pacific Records.
Victor Yampolsky currently lives in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife, Carol, and two children.
Hear Maestro Yampolsky's recollections about his coming to the USA and the key role played by Leonard Bernstein, some thoughts about music education, and some observations about the PMF Orchestra.