 FEBRUARY 27 • 2020 | 37

University of Michigan (U-M) for advanced 
degrees. 
“I realized conducting allowed me to 
fulfill my dreams of performance with the 
greatest possible palette of colors: all those 
instruments and people working together 
to bring the most beautiful compositions 
to life,
” he said. “I also realized I needed the 
creativity of composing to be fulfilled.
”
While a U-M student, Segal learned 
about the DSO Soundcard program, which 
offers students one low price for season 
tickets, and he became a steadfast audience 
member.
When the associate conductor went on 
maternity leave, Segal was asked to fill in. 
He became acting assistant conductor and 
now is back to being on-call. This year, in 
addition to conducting, he’
s covering 10 
other programs and will fill in and assist as 
needed. 
Segal recently met Jader Bignamini, the 
new DSO music director, who has been 
based in Italy while traveling the world to 
lead major orchestras. 
Chosen by committee, Bignamini had 
filled in for music director laureate Leonard 
Slatkin to close the 2017-18 season. Last 
October, Bignamini led a Mahler pro-
gram as the search for a new director was 
in progress and returned in January for 
more concerts and the announcement. 
Throughout 2020-21, the new director will 
lead three classical programs in Detroit.
“People have been so glowing about what 
an incredible week he had last 
fall and what instant chemistry 
there was with the orchestra,
” 
said Segal, who assisted that 
week. “When he came back, 
there was a deepening of that 
chemistry, and that was won-
derful to see.
”
Segal’
s interest in the Ann 
Arbor Symphony Orchestra 
also began when he was a U-M 
student attending programs. 
After music director Arie 
Lipsky became ill, Segal was 
asked to conduct. He also has 
served as assistant conductor of the Naples 
(Florida) Philharmonic and guest conduct-
ed in many other cities. 

Segal soon will join the celebration of 
the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’
s birth 
as maestro at a Warsaw music 
festival.
“
As a composer and musician, 
I’
m a Beethoven fan,
” Segal said. 
“
At the same time, I’
ve wanted to 
reinterpret what Beethoven could 
mean today.
”
His upcoming album, 
“Beethoven Reimagined,
” was 
recorded with the BBC National 
Orchestra of Wales and has three 
pieces that reimagine Beethoven’
s 
work. 
One piece is a symphonic 
arrangement Segal made from 
Beethoven’
s only opera, Fidelio, with-
out any voices. Another is a violin piano 
sonata turned into a new symphony. The 

third, “Beethoven 9 Symphonic Remix” 
by Gabriel Prokofiev, takes cells from 
Beethoven’
s work and creates a new suite 
using contemporary musical styles. 
Segal and wife, physician Joanna Spencer-
Segal, have two young children, and they 
attend family programs at the Jewish 
Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. 
Segal further expresses religious feeling 
through an earlier album, “Joy & Sorrow,
” 
devoted to Jewish themes. 
“The album has new classical, but 
klezmer-inspired, music by New York 
composer David Chesky,
” said Segal, who 
learned Hebrew from his Israeli-raised dad 
and Polish from his mom before speaking 
English. “The music expresses both the 
happiness and the sadness of what Jewish 
people have gone through, and the emo-
tions go beyond words.
” 

Jader Bignamini, DSO’
s 
new musical director

details
Yaniv Segal will lead “Best of 
Broadway” at 8 p.m. Saturday, 
March 14, and 4 p.m. Sunday, 
March 15, at the Michigan 
Theater, 603 E. Liberty, Ann 
Arbor. General ticket prices 
begin at $35, with student dis-
counts. (734) 994-4801. a2so.
com.
Segal will conduct 
“Gershwin’
s Magic Key” with 
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 
at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 25, in 
Orchestra Hall. Tickets start at 
$20. (313) 576-5111. dso.org.

Conducting allowed me to fulfi
 ll my dreams 
of performance with the greatest possible 
palette of colors. 

— YANIV SEGAL

FACING PAGE: Yaniv 
Segal will conduct in Ann 
Arbor and Detroit this 
season. RIGHT: Photos of 
Segal in action as assis-
tant conductor of the 
Naples (Florida) 
Philharmonic.

CHRISTINE ELZINGA

