Refugee Orchestra Project

Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya is a fiercely committed advocate for Slavic masterpieces, operatic rarities, and contemporary works on the leading edge of classical music. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 16 operas, and her strength as a visionary collaborator has guided new perspectives on staged and symphonic repertoire from Carmen and Queen of Spades to Price and Prokofiev. Her transformative tenure as Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater earned consistent recognition from the Chicago Tribune, which named her Chicagoan of the Year and credited her with “raising the profile of COT immensely, her interpretations bracing and repertoire head-spinningly varied.”

The 24/25 season opened with Yankovskaya’s successful Australian debut leading Puccini’s rarely performed Il trittico at Opera Australia, which resulted in an immediate re-engagement for a new production of Carmen in 2025. Elsewhere, Yankovskaya conducts La bohème with San Diego Opera and returns to Washington National Opera to lead The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

Lidiya’s experiences as a refugee inspired her to found the Refugee Orchestra Project, which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music, and has brought that message to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world. A sought-after speaker, she has led sessions at the League of American Orchestras and Opera America conferences, and recently served as U.S. Representative to the World Opera Forum in Madrid.

Milad Yousufi was born in 1995 during the civil war in Afghanistan. At that time the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan, and music was completely banned.  At the age of two he started drawing. He drew the piano keys on paper and pretended to play. Milad Yousufi is a pianist, composer, conductor, poet, singer, painter and calligrapher. Yousufi’s work is deeply inspired by his country and culture. When the Taliban rule was lifted after a period of five years, the arts flourished in Afghanistan Milad took advantage of every opportunity to learn and study music and art. By the age of 12 he was teaching painting and was able to attend the one and only music school in Kabul, after only three years of formal piano training, Milad was one of four students accepted into a music program in Denmark; He was also chosen to represent Afghanistan at various music festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Germany.  He placed third in the International Golden Key competition in Frankfurt, Germany.

Milad relocated to the United States in 2015, where he was granted a full scholarship to pursue his undergraduate studies at Mannes School of Music. During his time there, he studied piano under the esteemed pianist Simone Dinnerstein and successfully graduated in the spring of 2020. Subsequently, he earned his master’s degree in composition in 2022, guided by Dr. Dalit Warshaw at Brooklyn College. Milad has received commissions to compose for a variety of prestigious venues worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Center, Refugee Orchestra Project, Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hal and, Music Worcester.

In 2022, a film titled “Paper Piano” was produced in Hollywood, depicting the life of Milad. Milad composed the original score for this movie. released on Apple TV, “Little America” Season 2 Episode #7 (Paper Piano). In June 2023, Milad composed the film score for an Oscar-qualifying film entitled “The Night Doctrine.” This film was chosen for several prestigious festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, Holly Shorts in Los Angeles, BIAF in South Korea, Animest in Romania, the Hollywood Shorts Festival, NY Indie Shorts Awards, as well as the San Diego and Miami Film Festivals.

In 2024 Milad received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for “The Night Doctorine” film.