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